


Falling with Style

by Colonel_Edd



Series: Home is where the Heart is [2]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, M/M, Twisting Canon around my little finger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-09-29 13:17:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 66,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17204078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colonel_Edd/pseuds/Colonel_Edd
Summary: When Ianto Jones and his two fellow passengers find themselves stranded in a future so different to what they are used to, will they embrace their new reality or struggle to accept thier new world? Meanwhile what does it mean to Jack to get his long lost lover dumped back in his lap after years of mourning his inexplainable disappearance and how will everyone else react to this new, loved up, version of their previously emotionally stunted boss?





	1. Landing

Now it was fair to say Ianto was a bit of a nervous flyer, he had managed to avoid it to the best of his ability during the war but now, as he sat within a flying metal death trap miles up in the sky, he realised his resistance was futile. It hadn’t worked back then and it wasn’t working now, if anything his terror was only amplifying his discomfort as the whole plane rattled around him.

“We’re just going through some turbulence, everything is going to be fine” the pilot, a lovely woman called Dianne, informed him and Ianto told himself to get a grip as the other young woman he was sharing the cabin with looked spooked enough without him adding to her worry.

“So,” he tried for a smile as the seat he was in shook him about violently, “Emma, wasn’t it? Have any plans for Christmas?”

The young woman gave him a weak smile of her own in return, “I’m visiting my aunt Nora and Uncle Finn,” they both let out received sighs when the plane seemed to calm down, “Yourself?”

“Oh I hope to be back in Cardiff by Christmas, my wife isn’t too happy I’ve been called away for work so close to the holidays” he laughed internally at the thought of Jack’s reaction to being called his ‘wife’ though it was true Lisa was also unhappy with him. 

He must remember to buy her something extra to apologise, perhaps a book or a new pan to replace the one he destroyed last week trying to make supper.

“That’s strange” Emma frowned as she looked out of the little window

Intrigued, Ianto leant forward to see what she was looking at, you never could be too careful working for Torchwood after all, “What?”

“It’s nothing, I’m sure I’m just being silly… but I could have sworn it was much cloudier a minute ago” she shook her head

“Well, clouds do tend to be blown by wind” Ianto tried to rationalise it even as he silently agreed, it was much cloudier a few moments ago

Then the plane began to shake again and the ground seemed to be growing closer, “I’m sorry folks, we’ve got to make an emergency landing, just keep calm and hold onto something”

They were not the most reassuring words he could have been given but hell if he wasn’t about to obey orders. It was far from the proudest moment of his life as Ianto clung like an octopus to his seat as his plane jittered to the ground but then again, he’d certainly had less dignity in worse situations so he was counting it as a win. Even if he did need to take a moment to collect himself once they were on the ground.

He composed himself as quickly as he could and followed the women out into the fresh air, “Is everything alright?”

-

Jack leapt up from his desk and rushed down to the main hub as the klaxons sounded, “Whatcha got, Toshiko?”

“Major Rift spike over a private airfield on the outskirts of Cardiff,” she reported, tapping away at her keyboard, “Air traffic control reports an unidentified bi-plane suddenly appearing in a flash of light.”

“That’s our cue,” Jack clapped his hands together, “Owen, Gwen…with me. Toshiko stay here and find out what you can when more information comes in.”

Tosh didn’t look happy, but she stayed at her computer and put her earpiece in as Owen grabbed his kit and Gwen shrugged her coat on. Jack made a mental note to take Tosh out next time, seems like she was a grouchy little blossom without her usual adrenalin kicks. Still, nothing he couldn’t fix with a weevil hunt or two, right?

By the time the team arrived in SUV onto the tarmac at the small airport, the plane had already landed and two people had disembarked; both women, each dressed in an old-fashioned style, and if Owen had to guess he would have put the time somewhere in the 1950’s. 

As Jack parked and jumped out he could hear Gwen speaking into her com to Toshiko, giving her the name of the plane ‘Sky Gypsy’ and the call letters on the tail but he wasn’t really listening. Jack couldn’t help but stare at the plane in shock. It was a de Havilland Dragon Rapide, if he wasn’t mistaken. He’d personally never flown one, but he was aware of their reputation for being well-made, sturdy aircraft, he’d seen a couple during the War but none of that mattered, this was _the_ plane, he would recognise it anywhere.

He had searched for this plane for years, had scoured the face of the earth and here it sat in perfect condition right in front of him, “Jack?” Owen shook his shoulder none too gently, “Harkness snap out of it”

“Apologies about the unplanned touchdown,” a women said, as she walked over and offered Owen a hand, completely missing Jack but for once he didn’t mind being ignored, he was frozen in place, barely breathing, “But we hit some rotten turbulence.” Owen thought she was very attractive, with dark hair and what he guessed was traditional private flight clothes, including a sexy leather jacket.

“Doctor Owen Harper,” he introduced himself.

“Diane Holmes, pilot,” she replied, “Where are we? Is this some sort of secret base? I don’t remember an airfield here.”

Jack was about to demand answers when the final passenger disembarked from the plane, “Is everything all right?” he queried and Jack lost it, he charged forwards desperately as if the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels while his team could only stare at him in shock.

“Ianto!” He barked out as he ran for him desperately, unable to believe his eyes. Owen and Gwen watched as the man stared at Jack, clearly baffled as their boss pushed him back into the plane and shut the door behind them forcefully. Great, Owen looked at the two confused women and then to Gwen and back again

“Your turn Cooper”


	2. A Whole New Life

Ianto for his own part was busy trying to figure out what was going on, Jack was wearing similar clothes to the ones he’d last seen him in but an hour ago, though now suddenly they seemed completely out of place in their surroundings.

“Jack?” He asked with shock as his lover pushed him back inside the plane, slamming the door behind him forcefully, “What- umph” he was cut off as Jack grabbed him by the hips and pulled him in for possibly the roughest, dirtiest kiss they’d ever shared right there, in the middle of the day out in the open where anyone could see them. Ianto pushed him away with horror, looking around frantically to see if anyone had spotted them through the windows, “What the hell do you think you’re doing Jackson?!”

“Sorry” Jack panted, not letting him go, actually leaning in for another kiss, “Just let me-”

“There are people!” Ianto hissed, pushing him away, “I swear Jack I will not hesitate to deck you if you try again, I won’t let you get us arrested” when Jack pressed him up against the cabin wall, Ianto pushed him back and swung, sending Jack sprawling to the floor, immediately regretting it, “Christ Jack! I’m sorry” knelt down to help him up, feeling horrified at what he’d just done

“Ianto,” he whispered while still staring at him in shock. Then a joyous, hopeful, but still disbelieving expression lit up his attractive features, and he took his hand, “It... it’s really you,” he breathed, “Ianto it’s really you! You’re alive!”

“Yes it’s me, and you’re you, sorry for hitting you but you were acting out of sorts. I’m alive, you’re alive and we’re both in the plane” Ianto nodded, panicking slightly as he began to realise something was defiantly wrong. Something was wrong with Jack, how had he gotten here so fast? He should still be in Cardiff, “Glad we have that sorted, now where are we?”

Jack gave him a slightly regretful look as if he had some bad news to deliver and Ianto braced himself but before his captain could speak the plane door opened and a throat clearing ended their moment. Ianto returned his gaze to the two people that had accompanied Jack to wherever they were. An oddly dressed couple for sure, the man eyed him suspiciously while the woman tried to hide a disapproving frown.

Jolted from the intense moment, Jack looked over at his teammates and Ianto back again, “Ianto this is Agent Gwen Cooper and Doctor Owen Harper” he introduced them, getting to his feet, “They work for me, Gwen, Owen this is Ianto Jones”

Ianto pulled himself together and away from Jack in one fluid movement, smiling at the two strange people despite the admittedly terrifying situation. He tried not to forget his manners and the two agents offered him pained, awkward smiles back. Miss Cooper looked at him like he was a particularly difficult crossword while Dr Harper just looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, doing anything but talking to him. They looked like they knew something he didn’t, something awful if their grimaces were anything to fo by. Perhaps Jack had told them something he didn’t know.

That could wait, there were more pressing matters at hand. The two agents moved away from the aircraft and Ianto followed Jack back outside where he got another look at the huge sleek black car sat on the runway, Emma and Dianne were already inside and Ianto motioned around the airfield, “What is this place?”

“That’s going to be a bit hard to explain,” Jack said, reaching out to hold his arm unable to resist even if Ianto did stiffen at the contact (and not in the way Jack preferred) He was really right here after all these years, the rift had given him back and Jack was resisting the urge to bawl like a baby.

Ianto shifted away from Jack again, this time less subtly and trained a stern glare on the man, “Jackson, where are we?” He repeated himself, using. His full name to show he wasnt messing around. While he didn’t want to show him up in front of these agents, he did want answers.

Jack looked between his coworkers and let out a sigh, “This is Cardiff,” he answered eventually, “Just not... your Cardiff...” He grimaced, and his shoulders slumped, suddenly seeming uncharacteristically hesitant, not at all like the confident man he knew. Jack never avoided confrontation like this, ignored it yes but never avoided, there was a slim but significant difference. But then he drew himself up and pressed on, speaking in his ‘Captain’ voice, to all of them, “This is the Cardiff of the future,” he told him, “We’re in 2008.”

Ianto let out a shocked breath, congratulating himself for staying on his feet, this couldnt be true. How could you travel decades within minutes? Jack didn’t look like he was kidding either, his eyes were lacking the distinct twinkle, “55 years?” He asked and Jack nodded with a wince, looking at him as if were a grenade about to go off, “Not as bad as it could have been I suppose” Ianto forced a smile, relieved when Jack barked out a laugh, good to know some things hadn’t changed. If he could just pretend things weren’t happening, if he didn't think about it, he might just be alright.

“Oh I forgot how you can take anything in your stride” Jack laughed, wiping a tear from his eye subtly as Gwen and Owen had a hissed argument a few feet away, “Guys?”

“Ah, Mr Jones should probably join the others in the SUV” Gwen said with authority, “He needs to be processed”

Jack’s face told her exactly what he thought of that, “Gwen, why don’t you go to the car and keep the women calm. I’ll send Owen in a minute”

“No Jack, he needs to get into the SUV now” Gwen crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her boss just like she always did when she wanted to get her way

Looking between Ianto and Gwen, Jack cleared his throat, “That wasn’t a suggestion Gwen”

Doing a double take Owen almost gave himself whiplash, what was this? Jack saying no to Gwen, that was a first. It was a shame his boss finally decided to grow a backbone at the wrong time, “Actually we probably should keep them all together. It will save time explaining things”

“Gwen… just give us a moment” Jack snapped as she went to argue further, “Now”

Too shocked that for once she wasn’t getting her own way, Gwen scampered off and did as she was told. Equally as surprised by his actions, Jack took a moment to gather his thoughts before turning to Owen, “You take the car, get Tosh to start the rehabilitation process for Dianne and Emma, new ID’s, find them a place to stay and stuff” he saw Owens surprise in that he already knew the women’s identities but didn’t pause for questions, “I have something I need to do”

“What about him” Owen frowned, “I need to examine him, who knows what the rift did to him”

Jack glanced over at Ianto meaningfully, “We have things to discuss, I’ll meet you back at the hub in a few hours”

“Jack, if he’s really from the fifties his immune system is going to be too weak,” Owen put his hands on his hips, “He’s getting sick as we talk”

Pursing his lips, Jack nodded regretfully, “Fine,” he wasn’t going to put Ianto in danger, “Can you give us a minute? Here, take the keys” he fished them out of his pocket and tossed them over, “One minute, I swear”

“Fine, but be quick” Owen muttered, catching the keys and giving Ianto one last suspicious once over before swaggering off, annoyed he hadn’t been given anything specific but he doing as he was told.

“Jack?” Ianto asked once they were alone, “This isn’t a dream is it? Jesus we’re in the future” Jack just stood there looking at him silently, making him shift from foot to foot self consciously, “Jack? You’re worrying-” he was better prepared for the interrupting kiss this time but by no means did he appreciate it, pulling away quickly with a glare, “Are you trying to get us arrested Jack? What is the matter with you?! Your agents are right there!” And they were his agents, weren’t they? Jack had a new team, a whole new life in this time... a life without him...

A complete mess, Jack had no idea what to do. He knew what he wanted to do, he wanted to take Ianto home and never let him leave the safety of his house again but he couldn’t. Ianto needed to be processed at the Hub, it was for his own good.

“I’m sorry” Jack swallowed, he needed to keep his head, “Everything is going to be alright, I promise.” He took Ianto by the arm gently and started to steer him towards the SUV, “We need to go back to the hub”

“Wait,” Ianto struggled, pulling his arm free, “Jack wait,” he looked him up and down critically, “Your doctor? How did you get here too? Did he bring you here?” Maybe it hadn’t been too long for him, maybe Jack was lost too.

“That’s a long story” he shook his head, “I’ll tell you later”

Ianto nodded and decided to try again later, following Jack like a lost puppy towards the big black car, “Do they know? About… y’know”

“No, well Gwen does but the others don’t. Just let me do all the talking”

“Nothing new there then”

The corners of Jack’s mouth twitched up despite himself, “Yeah, nothing new there”


	3. Torchwood Beanies

The hub looked different, not overly so but it was quite disconcerting for Ianto considering he’d barely been gone two hours in his own time, the strangest observation he made as he was ushered inside was the almost overwhelming amount of logo’s everywhere. Since when did all the stationary have to be labelled with the Torchwood insignia? Don’t even get him started on the huge sign painted on the wall, were they worried they would forget the name of the institute if it wasn’t staring them right in the face all day?

“Right this way Mr Jones” Gwen gestured down to the medical bay as Emma finished her exam

Jack quickly dumped the file Tosh was showing him on her desk and rushed to Ianto’s side in three long strides, “Thanks Gwen, why don’t you help Toshiko” so far he had managed to spend a whole three consecutive minutes without touching Ianto in some way but it was quickly becoming obvious that the two men knew each other as Jack wasn’t even trying to hide it.

“I wanted a word with you in private actually Jack” she narrowed her eyes at the chummy way he was acting with the new rift victim, “You office should be fine”

“Later” Jack waved his hand, this time making Tosh give him a double take as she had never heard him deny Gwen anything, she always got her way, “I’m going to sit in on the exam, Ianto might need me”

“But- Jack!” she demanded as he just walked away from her, something was very wrong here, and that Ianto bloke was behind it she was sure. She was going to get to the bottom of this, “He’s a civilian, he shouldn’t get special treatment!”

“I’m not a civilian, I’ve been working here since before you were born” Ianto rubbed his temples as he tried to wrap his head around what was happening, the med bay looked very different, like something about of a science fiction book. This was all fast becoming too much.

“So wait, you’re telling me this guy is Torchwood? Where’s his file?” Owen asked as he ran a scanner down his front, “Jack?” This was information he should have been given immediately, his file could have something important in it.

“All employee files prior to the sixties have major water damage” he shrugged at Ianto’s appalled look, “We made sure everything salvageable was put on the system but I don’t think his was” he knew it wasn’t, he had found the file himself, his pictures ruined and his remaining personal possessions destroyed.

Owen sighed and skimmed over his results on his handheld scanner, “He’s covered in Rift Energy like the others but otherwise he seems alright, hold still would you?” He quickly reached behind him and injected Ianto with a booster jab, he found the element of surprise made the jab a lot less of a hassle

“Hey!” Ianto hissed, rubbing his arm where he had been injected rudely, “What was that?”

“That just saved your life, you’ll need another one in a couple of days”

“You could have been more gentle” Jack frowned as he peered down at Ianto’s arm to make sure he was alright, “Is he going to be ok now?”

“Yeah, he’ll be fine”

“Good, I’m taking him out” Jack informed him with an air of finality, “You should-”

“You can’t let him leave the hub” Gwen interrupted shrilly, “He needs-”

Fed up with her constant interrupting today, Jack snapped, “Have you forgotten who is in charge here Gwen?”

Not seeing the danger she was in, Gwen continued to push, “He should be contained!”

“He has a name!” Jack argued right back

Ianto rolled his eyes, “He is not a toy for children to fight over”

“Of course you’re not a toy” Jack agreed immediately, “Why don’t you go wait in the meeting room with Emma and Dianne while I finish up here”

Keen to get away from the workplace drama, Ianto took the lifeline and scampered off, he felt as if his head was about to explode. He might be Torchwood but accidental time travel isn’t something he was built for, what he wouldn’t give for a cup of coffee in his chair by the window back home right about now, “Hello again” he tipped his head politely at his fellow time travellers, “Are you both alright?”

“I’m fine” Dianne nodded, “Still not sure this isn’t just a strange dream though”

Emma nodded her head, “I’m okay as well, this place is very strange though. I’m a little scared”

“You’re going to be fine” Ianto sat down next to her with a calming smile, “I used to work here, Torchwood helps people like us, I promise everything will sort itself out”

“They can send us home?” Emma asked with wide eyes. Home, Ianto thought, number 3 Roseman drive with Jack next door and his wife laughing at him from the other room. Oh god, Lisa, where was Lisa?! Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Ianto was about to respond when the new Torchwood team joined them in the Boardroom armed with papers and a tray of drinks. Looks like he was about to find out.

\- 

Jack stood in the doorway, watching his team enter the room and sit across from the new arrivals, glad to see there was no open hostility at least. He was so sure at least one of them was going to have a go at Owen for his needle trick earlier, maybe Ianto would have done if the situation were a little less serious. He nodded to Toshiko who began passing out the identification that they had just finished up printing. The process a familiar one that they had gotten scarily quick at. 

“These will be your means of identification,” he explained, taking the seat across from Ianto, as the three of them took the files handed to them, “We’ve set up bank accounts for you but we’ll give you an allowance so you can practice with the currency and money management.”

He watched each of them intently as they checked out what they’d been given. Dianne flicked through hers in no particular order, Emma looked overwhelmed and Ianto… he didn’t look too pleased, “David Ward,” Ianto said flatly, not at all impressed

“Sally-Anne Hope,” Dianne added

“Deborah Morrison,” Emma echoed with a smile, “And it’s spelt how Deborah Kerr spells it!”

“Your background stories should incorporate the skills you already have. Ianto, you could have been a librarian”

Ianto was shaking his head slowly, “No,” he wasn’t rude about it though, “I would rather not”

“We can fake references…” Jack trailed off as Ianto looked so lost it hurt

“Please, you can’t take away my name” he was close to begging, his eyes were tearing up and Jack knew Ianto would rather gnaw his own arm off than make a scene so he must be at his breaking point, “If I’m really out of my time then it’s all I have left. Its not like Ianto Jones is a unique name.” He fiddled with the ID in his information packet, “Its my family name, the name my wife took”

Jack only just managed to conceal a wince as pain tore through him as well, “All right,” he yielded after a moment of thought, “You should keep your name.” Besides, its not like he would remember to use the new one anyway, Ianto Jones will always be Ianto Jones, an ID isn’t going to change that.

Releasing a shuddering breath of relief, Ianto ran a hand down his face and pulled himself together, “Thank you Captain”

“But he can’t keep his name!” Gwen broke up the tender moment, “He will have to use the new ID we gave him”

“Drop it Gwen, don’t you think he has lost enough?” Owen grumbled, the man just lost his wife in the blink of an eye, he knew the pain he was feeling and Gwen’s constant arguing wasn’t going to help anyone

“Now” Jack said, once everyone was quiet again, “I was going to suggest Gwen take the three of you shopping, in order to give you first-hand experience with money and what you’ll run into when shopping for yourselves but after some deliberation I have decided I will take you myself if there are no objections” he didn’t wait a beat before continuing, “Good, now that sorted” he gestured to Tosh who passed out some more envelopes, “There’s some money in each, fifty pounds”

Once she had taken her seat once more, Tosh added, “I’d suggest using most of it for your food, then perhaps twenty pounds for luxuries, like cigarettes or magazines or such.”

“Fifty pounds!” Emma gasped as she looked at the new currency, “My dad only made ten pounds a week!”

Smiling to himself, Jack told her, “Things are a lot more expensive now. Trust me, you’ll see.”

“I can’t wait,”

“We’ll also get you plenty of materials you can go over, explaining a lot of the changes that have occurred since your time,” Jack went on. “So much has gone on, and you’ll need to be aware of it.”

Emma raised her hand tentatively and Jack smothered his smile not wanting to belittle her,”Yes, Emma?”

“Don’t you mean Deborah?” she teased

“Of course, Deborah.” Thank the god she had taken to her new name, he really didn’t want to fight them on this.

“I just… well I was talking to Toshiko earlier and she was trying to explain how to use her computer and it sounded like so much fun. I was wondering if I would be allowed to use it”

“Of course!” Jack grinned, wonderful she really wanted to learn, “Actually its probably for the best if you all get a crash course in technology, it has advanced in leaps and bounds since your time. Computers, mobile phones, the internet. Its all great stuff you should learn how to use”

“Just don’t let him do any online shopping,” Owen smirked, “Last time he went on a spree we ended up with thirty odd plastic house plants and team beanies he got embroidered for us”

“I liked the beanies” Tosh defended him, “I still wear mine when it gets cold”

“Well you would”


	4. Trust Me

Jack took the first opportunity he could to get Ianto alone in his office to talk, he even went as far as closing the blinds and locking the door so they wouldn’t be interrupted. A fleeting thought ran through his brain once he did, one that had done so before in a very different time, ‘things were about to get messy and complicated’ he could only hope Ianto was going to handle this as well as he had learning of his immortality back in the war.

The first thing he did was pull him close and breath him in, “It’s really you, fuck Ianto your alive”

Relenting and allowing his lover the comfort he needed, Ianto gently stroked his hair as Jack cried softly into his shoulder, “I’m right here Jack” Ianto patted his back but he just cried harder, “I’m sorry I disappeared? I didn’t mean to worry you” maybe that would help him calm down

“Worry me?” Jack demanded through his tears, pushing him away, “Worry me?! Fuck Ianto you didn’t fucking _worry_ me! You broke me! For years I kept looking for you, every fucking guy in a suit, every cup of coffee! You’ve been haunting me for over half a century you bastard!”

“Hey” Ianto glared back, “This wasn’t my fault, it could just have easily been you on that plane” he was many things but a puppy for Jack to kick wasn’t one of them

Jack took several deep breaths and tried to calm down, “You left me” he accused even though deep down he knew it wasn’t his fault, “Disappeared into thin air”

“I’m sorry” Ianto nodded, “I am sorry this has happened but I’m alive, aren’t I? In the future, 55 years is a long time and I’m sorry for leaving you” the horrible thought went through his mind again, “What happened to Lisa?”

Jack crumbled again but he knew he needed to tell him, “She died 7 years ago,” Ianto felt his heart splinter in his chest, “She was 81. Went to sleep and never woke up”

“And Emily?” Ianto asked robotically

“3 years later, heart attack. They stayed together, adopted a child who’s all grown up. She lives in London now. They were happy together”

Mind reeling Ianto just stared at Jack blankly, “And you?”

Jack let out a long sigh, “That… is a long story”

“I’ve got no plans- I don’t think those files are still waiting for me in Dublin anyhow”

Jack chuckled, “God I’ve missed you Ianto Jones, I don’t think I ever told you, I regretted it ever sense but I-”

“Don’t!” Ianto blurted out in panic, regretting it when Jack looked heartbroken, “Just, not now, not here. Don’t say it”

“Okay” Jack nodded, walking over to look out at his team through the blinds covering his glass walls, “I’ll take you back to my place and we can talk”

Ianto shifted on his feet nervously as Jack turned his attention back to him, “My house?”

“Gone, I’m sorry. They built a supermarket” Jack looked heartbroken all over again, “I tried to keep them both but there was nothing I could do”

“Not your fault” Ianto shook his head, “So where do you live now?”

Jack gave him an honest stupid grin that made Ianto’s insides hurt at the familiarity of it, “Oh just you wait, you’re going to love it”

“I will have to take you by your word Captain” Ianto tipped his head, “What will you tell your new team? Won’t it look suspicious, us leaving together?”

Jack let out a long sigh and rubbed his eyes, “About that… they kind of already know I know you”

“Kind of? How kind of?” Ianto asked suspiciously, what had Jack told them about him?

Jack bit his lip, “There was an incident, one of my team came into contact with an alien artefact that enabled them to read our minds, unfortunately it just so happened that the day they tried to read my mind was the anniversary of mine and Emilys wedding. It dredged up a lot of memories and I couldn’t deal with them. I was… in a bad shape, all I could think about was you, how much it hurt that I lost you. This team member wanted to know why I was effected so badly so I… told them”

“Told them?” Ianto repeated slowly with horror, “What did you tell them?”

Jack cupped his cheeks with both hands, forcing him to meet his eyes, “Calm down Ianto, really only one of us should be this emotional at any one time” he resisted the urge to kiss him as that probably wouldn’t help the situation, “I told them we met in ‘38 when you were 18 years old, I told them how you were so brave during the war, how you saved my life, about your injury and how you came back for more like an _idiot_ ” 

“We’re not having this argument again” Ianto finally relaxed into his hold, asking with wide hurt eyes as if he already knew the answer, “What else?”

Jack swallowed, “I told them how you married a woman to keep her safe and how your eyes sparkled in candlelight, I told them how I bought the house next door for twice the asking price just so I could see you everyday after the war, I told them how adorable you were when you bought that bloody television… and I told them that we were… involved” Jack felt a wave of shame crash over him as Ianto flinched and closed his eyes, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think they would ever meet you. I never considered that one day you may have to see these people. Today being gay isn’t-” 

“Please stop” Ianto said taking deep breaths to calm down, pulling away from Jack and hugging himself self-consciously, “Please Jackson stop this, I- I can’t breathe, it’s too much”

“Hey, hey it’s okay” Jack cursed himself for sending him into such a panic, “It’s just the shock, look at me, thats it just look at me and breathe Ianto” he matched their breaths and Jack reached out for his hand, “It’s safe, I swear please trust me”

Ianto took the hand offered immediately at the sound of those words, “With my life, always”

Jack gulped and squeezed his hand with a small comforting smile, “They probably don’t even realise it was you I was talking about, I never gave them a name, as far as they’re concerned you could be two separate people”

“So… they don’t know its me, this lover you told them about?” Ianto asked, beyond relieved, “Thank god”

“But if you did tell them they wouldn’t care” Jack pressed the matter, “I always said things would change and they have. You can be completely open and honest here”

Ianto had to admit that did sound exciting, he could hold Jacks hand, maybe even kiss him in front of others without the threat of prison or worse. Yet there was something holding him back, something he was ashamed to admit was fear. Did it make him a coward for being afraid of being open like that? Maybe not, Jacks new team were complete strangers, he had just been dumped in an unfamiliar time period and from his perspective being with a man had been illegal less than six hours ago. It wasn’t unreasonable that he should be granted an adjustment period.

“Maybe,” Ianto bit his lip as Jack gave him his full attention, “In a few days, once I’ve found my footing a bit” he knew it was silly but once Jack agreed with him he felt a weight lift from his shoulders. Sure being in the closet was oppressive and loathsome but it was comfortable, he was used to it and could play the part well. This new world was terrifying and he wasn’t sure where he fit into it yet so any comfort or familiarity he could cling onto was much appreciated


	5. Cover Models

It was late afternoon before Jack finally got their three visitors bundled into the SUV once more and off to do their shopping as he had been forced to fight Gwen every step of the way. He didn’t know what was wrong with her today but she had been grating on his nerves horrendously. Jack had also noticed the way Owen an Tosh seemed surprised with him telling her off but he couldn’t think why for the life of him. He couldn’t possibly let her get away with stuff like this all the time could he? He valued her opinion but he didn’t let her walk all over him, right? He could ask them later, for now he had to focus on the matter at hand. Shopping.

He decided to take them to the nearest Tesco’s as Tosh told him it would have the best selection and Owen said it was closest to the Hub. Dianne was surprisingly the most excited out of all of them, apparently Owen had been telling her about the vast quantities of sugary snacks and she was very interested to see if he had been exaggerating. 

Emma was more anxious than excited, the stress of the situation was finally starting to settle in and Jack was just pleased she seemed to have found a kindred spirit in Ianto. He too was anxious but a lot better at hiding it, ducking behind his mask of confidence and independence even though Jack knew he must be feeling dreadful by now at the lack of control he had over the situation.

Jack was so preoccupied making sure he didn’t loose one during the walk to the shop from the car park that he forget to tell them about the automatic doors. He would swear on his multiple deathbeds that it was possibly the cutest thing he had ever seen, just the look of shock and deep distrust on Ianto’s face when the doors slid open. The little frightened jump back and yelp just made it even better, “How did it do that?” He demanded, feeling quite silly as Jack laughed at him

“It’s automatic,” he answered, unable to smother his grin at his surprise, “It knows you’re there.”

“But how?” The door began to close, and this time Emma stepped forward making it slide back open again.

“There are detectors,” Jack explained patiently, “that emit radio waves and when something reflect-”

“Bananas!” Diane cut him off mid sentence with a pleased smile, walking through the previously enthralling technology and into the shop with purpose.

As Jack watched the women examine the display of bright yellow fruit he was reminded painfully of his doctor, the one who had still yet to come back for him. 

“Of course,” Ianto said dryly, snapping Jack out of his maudlin mood with ease, “bananas are far more interesting”

Here he was moping about over the doctor while the universe had literally returned his lost love, Jack shook his head and followed the others inside, “Look at all this!” Emma squealed, much more enthusiastic now as the excitement took hold once more. 

“We’d just come off rationing in ‘53.” Ianto said faintly to himself as he wearily approached a bunch of green grapes with a longing glint in his eye

Oh yes, Jack certainly remembered about rationing, feeling constantly peckish, the pressure of making every crumb count. He didn’t miss it one jot and could understand where they were coming from completely, “Yes,” he said, “humanity is a consumer society.”

“It’s bloody fantastic,” Ianto muttered under his breath as he turned to look at something else and Jack was slightly stressed once their shock wore off as he had three hyperactive rift victims gone wild in the supermarket. Maybe he should have brought them out one at a time, at least then he wouldn’t keep losing one.

After leaving Dianne in front of a pastry cabinet Jack found Emma wandering down the sweet isle, “Are you alright?”

The young woman was bewitched by the shiny colourful packaging, “Yes, I think so. How much food money do I have left?”

Glancing at what she had in her basket, Jack mentally tallied it up, taking an almost embarrassingly long amount of time before answering her, “Fifteen pounds forty.” He wasn’t even sure if that was right, though in his defence he was trying to keep track of three different shopping baskets at once.

In response Emma did something so like him that it made Jack burst out into laughter, she calmly walked up to the shelf and wept half of it into her basket with a broad smile, “Now?”

“Nine pounds ten,” he grinned, “You know, you’re going to ruin your teeth.”

Emma rolled her eyes, “You sound like my Mum.” 

Unable to do anything but stare as she walked away from him, Jack told himself that he was certainly the father of the family. Not that he had anything against mothers, he had great respect for them, he just never really saw himself as one. He always pictured himself as the fun dad, the one who fed the children ice cream for supper and tickled them until they were purple. Ianto would be the mum, he decided, he was definitely the worrier.

Caught up in his own little world, Jack didn’t realise Emma was gone until he heard her laughing with Dianne in the next isle over. Hurrying to catch up he found them stood in for the of a range of DVD’s, “They sell films in boxes and you can watch them at home!” Dianne told Emma, grinning.

“I love going to the pictures!” she enthused. Satisfied they were preoccupied for the time being he went in search of Ianto, not that he didn’t think he could handle himself in a supermarket, he was just feeling a bit clingy at the moment and wanted to make sure he was alright. He eventually found him standing next to a magazine rack wearing a delightful blush, looking half horrified, half intrigued staring at something with Morbid curiosity. 

When Jack saw what he was holding, it was all he could do not to laugh at his lovers embarrassment, “Everything alright Ianto?” He asked, trying to remember what cover models used to wear in the 50’s, not that Ianto used to look then either.

“Um…” Ianto just blushed deeper, looking almost guilty as Jack approached him

“Welcome to the wonderful world of scantily-dressed celebrities,” Jack leered, wiggling his eyebrow for good measure as he took another look at the magazine Ianto had found. On the cover there was some famous male model wearing a half undone pair of very tight jeans and nothing else. He could certainly see the appeal but he had always preferred pale skin and dark hair. 

Plus he was too muscular, don’t get him wrong, a strong pair of legs were great but the man had nothing to cuddle up against. He’d take Ianto’s soft tummy over a six pack any day

“There’s children around,” Ianto said forbiddingly even as he continued to drink in the picture a little too much for Jacks liking, not that he was jealous, of course not.

Nodding, Jack took the magazine off him and put it back on the shelf for no other reason than to save him the trouble, “I believe he’s a children’s TV presenter.”

In comparison to the hectic shopping, check-out was a walk in the park. Ianto went first, probably wanting to show his independence though he seemed confused when he had to separate the plastic bags. Jack took a step back even though he wanted to intervene and he eventually got there on his own.

Emma copied him and everything was going smoothly until Dianne walked up to him clutching a box of cigarettes with a confused expression on her face, “Is something wrong?” Jack asked and in response she held up the packet on which the bold black text read ‘Smoking Kills’

“What does that mean?” 

Oh boy, that was going to be fun to explain.

-

Ianto wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to be doing, Jack was talking to someone on the phone in his office, Emma was doing something on the computer with Toshiko and Dianne was talking to Owen about the health risks long term smoking could cause. Deciding to be useful, he figured he could go down to the archives and see if any of his files had survived the flooding Jack had told him about. Surely since his system was in place at least some of his documentation would have survived.

Strangely within the first ten steps into his territory, Ianto got the sense something wasn’t quite right. Sure he had been gone a while but Jack must have employed someone to at least dust down here.

Apparently not, it became clear the further he delved into the archives that nobody had been down there in quite some time. Huge spiders webs hung from the ceiling, the walls were damp and cold but what really drove a dagger through his heart was the vision of his meticulously filed reports in shambles. The cabinets were wide open, the draws filled to the brim with random sheets of paper, even his poor desk hadn’t escaped unscathed. The legs dark with rot, the draws completely missing and don’t even get him started on the actual tabletop, he couldn’t even see the wood underneath all the random debris piled high on top.

Now, Ianto isn’t known or his dramatic flair or overly violent tendencies but he swears to god that if Jackson had been stood next to him when he found his archives in such disrepair, he would have tore him to shred both figuratively and literally. How could he have let this happen? It was unimaginable, no- blasphemous.

Sacrilege. Just wait until he go his hands on Jack.

Unaware of the storm brewing beneath his feet, Jack finished up his call with the crown. Lizzy was very excited to hear that Mr Jones had reappeared, she’d always had a bit of a soft spot for his lover if Jack is remembering correctly. He couldn’t wait to tell Ianto, he would be both made up and blown away. He’d probably blush too, oh how Jack had missed that adorable blush, a sign that even after the bloody war Ianto had retained some of his innocence.

“Ah, Ianto just the man I wanted to see. I was about to come looking for you” Jack’s smile soon slipped from his face when he saw his lovers expression though. Whatever had happened in the half an hour he was on the phone, he was in trouble, “Ianto?”

“My Archives” Ianto grit out between clenched teeth, he didn’t want to make a scene but someone was going to pay

Aw shit, this was worse than he thought, “What about-”

“You know fine well” Ianto cut him off furiously, Jack swore he could actually see the flames behind his eyes, “What happened?”

“I…” Jack hung his head, “I couldn’t go down there, the place reminds me too much of you”

Slightly more calm now Jack was cooperating, Ianto sought more answers in a less fierce manner, “What do you mean?”

“Whenever I have to file anything I will just shove it wherever is closest, we have digital records now that we can pull at a moments notice so its not hurting anyone”

“It hurt me,” Ianto admitted, “What did you think would go through my mind when I went down there and saw you couldn’t even be bothered to keep my work in order?” When Jack didn’t answer he told him, “It makes me think that you didn’t care, that you forgot me in a blink of an eye, that not even the work I left behind was of any value to you”

“No Ianto, its not that” Jack pleaded, “I tried, I really did but I could never do it as well as you. I hired another archivist but they weren’t you. They were undoing everything you did, they couldn’t replace you. In the end I fired him, the archives have been like that ever since” he risked a glance at his expression and saw it was blank, calculating, “I’m sorry Ianto, really. I didn’t think, it was easier not to”

Eventually Ianto sat down in the chair opposite the desk with a sigh, “That makes sense”

“It does?” Jack asked hopefully, maybe he was off the hook

Ianto nodded slowly, “Yeah, I don’t think I could work at your empty desk every day without going mad if you left… just, respect the paperwork okay? Do you have any idea how much is needed to keep a place like this afloat? Its not all weevil hunts and rift retrievals you know?”

“I know,” Jack nodded quickly, eager to prove he wasn’t a complete arse, “I’ll help you clean up”

Ianto snorted and quickly stood up, “You will do no such thing, your attempts at cleaning rival my own at cooking. Both lead to disastrous outcomes and should be avoided at all costs”

“Ah yes, I remember the great breakfast disaster of ‘51” Jack teased, poor Ianto really did try but somehow he had managed to disintegrate their breakfast even as Lisa stood over his shoulder giving him instructions

”And I remember botched bleach the incident of ‘49” Ianto shot back, remembering how Emily had smacked Jack so hard round the back of the head for bleaching her Sunday dress in attempts to clean it that he swore his hearing was impaired for the rest of the day. 

Two could play at that game and Jack had done a lot more stupid stuff than he had.


	6. The Wonders of Television

Ianto was supposed to be staying at the hostel with the women but within ten minutes of the team leaving them to their own devices Jack had come back with the puppy dog eyes in full effect, “Do they really need you here? Dianne is a strong independent woman and _Emma_... well Emma has those two nice young girls to look out for her”

Ianto smiled at his antics despite himself, “I don’t suppose they need me, I barely know them after all”

“So, you’ll come back to mine with me?” Jack asked hopefully, he didn’t want to push too much but he really didn’t want to take no for an answer.

“Yes” Ianto answered though he had to keep his eyes trained on his feet during the car ride over to Jack’s new place after the first few minutes of confusing scenery, when he was a child he had dreamt of visiting exotic places but this was out of his league, everything was making him dizzy with confusion, similar and yet completely different. After a full day of sensory overload everything was starting to catch up with him.

At least a Jacks had a house, it looked normal from the outside with a door and windows and stuff, he even had a door knocker. As silly as it sounded seeing a knocker on Jack’s door helped to ground him, if door knockers survived 55 years then he could too, right?

“What’s going on in that big brain of yours?” Jack asked as he pulled out his key ring, he hadn’t been here in a while, he hoped the cleaners still came, he still paid them right?

“Door knockers survived” Ianto found himself saying in a daze, “Even if yours looks like a lion now, Mrs Henderson down the street has one just like it… had one” Ianto corrected himself with a sigh as Jack finally opened the door

“You’re going to be fine” Jack reassured him, pushing the door open and noting that everything seemed pretty clean, “Home sweet home, come in”

Ianto lugged his case inside and looked around the hallway, “You don’t come here often do you?”

“What makes you say that?” Jack asked as he took his coat off and reached out for Ianto’s

He gestured at the hallway, “No pictures on the walls, you’re not wearing a ring and you kissed me earlier quite a few times so I assume you’ve not remarried, it’s too clean for just you, you never pick up after yourself so either you’ve gotten unbelievably tidy or you’re not here much”

Jack toed his boots off and set them by the front door, gesturing for Ianto to do the same before grabbing his bag and setting it down next to the shoe rack he couldn’t remember buying, “Mostly right, I never remarried, I don’t stay here often but I have a cleaner who dusts when I’m not”

“You have a cleaner?” Ianto asked with wide eyes as he shook his head, “Unbelievable”

Jack chuckled as he lead Ianto through to the sitting room, watching with delight as he spotted the TV and his eyes went wide like saucers, “So let me get this straight, you’ve just been zapped 55 years into the future and that’s fine but the fact that I’m too lazy to pick up after myself is unbelievable?”

Ianto shrugged as he sat down on the sofa, frowning as he was almost swallowed into it, “I’ve read about stranger things happening in reports I found in the archives and you’re never short of a tall tale or two”

“True” Jack sat down next to him, noting his excellent choice in furniture as he sunk down comfortably, “Do you want a drink? Something to calm your nerves?”

Ianto considered it but shook his head, “Thank you but no, you owe me an explanation or two and I’d rather be completely sober for it”

“Alright then, I’ll jump right in!” Jack smiled, propping his elbow on the back of the sofa and angling himself so he was facing his lover, “So lets see, automatic doors-”

“You know that’s not what I meant” Ianto pinned him with a look that brooked no arguments, “Tell me about what happened after I disappeared” 

A lot more solemn now, Jack told himself that Ianto deserved to know, “There was a search for you, the Queen even got involved at one point- she says hi by the way- but as you know we never found you. Lisa was devastated when they declared you dead. We held a…” he paused to collect himself and pushed on, “A funeral, we had no body to bury so we burnt letters and scattered the ashes”

“And what happened to you?”

“I lived” Jack said simply, “I carried on living a half life, I watched Emily and Lisa grow old. I had to fake a death of my own so people wouldn’t get suspicious but I kept in contact with them, I told them about my immortality and they took my secret to the grave”

Ianto swallowed past the lump in his throat and put a comforting hand on his knee, “I’m so sorry Jack”

“Its not your fault”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be sorry for your loss”

“Our loss”

They had a moments silence to remember all that they had lost before Jack tried to inject some joy back into the conversation, “It wasn’t all bad. I told you that in the future things get better and they have, homosexuality was legalised in the UK in 1967, nowadays it is acceptable to see two men holding hands on the street, going out on dates, even kissing in public. Of course there are some homophobes left but the same goes for racism and sexism, the point is it’s not as bad as it once was”

“1967? We were so close” Ianto murmured to himself, “I would have been 47, we could have been together”

“Hopefully we still can be” Jack meant it as a joke but he immediately knew he’d sounded too serious as Ianto gave him a worried look, “Ianto, you’re important to me, I would never make you do anything that made you feel uncomfortable. If you’re not ready to be open I understand”

“You already told everyone at a Torchwood” Ianto did his best to keep calm, “They don’t know its me but its only a matter of time before they figure it out. Hell I’ve never even said it aloud”

“I know” Jack nodded guiltily, he knew the damage outing someone could so, even accidentally and he felt awful, “It’s a big shock, I understand, it will take time for you to get used to the concept”

Ianto was quiet for a long time before he changed topics and pointed at Jacks TV, “Why do you have a strange mirror?”

Jack felt the corner of his lips tug up into a smile, “That’s not a mirror, that’s my television”

“Bollocks” Ianto snorted, his eyes almost popping out of his skull when Jack retrieved a remote control of sorts and pointed it at the big black mirror, “Christ!” Ianto squeezed his eyes shut tight and after a moment, put his hands over his ears to block out the sound as Jack fumbled the remote to turn it off. The screen lit up and displayed a woman, dressed in very little tied up, with a man, wearing even less, engaged in sexual acts, “Jackson!”

“Sorry!” Jack squeaked, actually squeaked as he finally changed the channel, “Ianto I’ve turned it off”

Ianto peeked and sure enough the black mirror was blank again, “What was that!?” He demanded, smacking him as he giggled like a child, “Jack!”

“I’m so sorry” he said, contrite, “That really is a television though, a colour one. What you saw was a DVD I bought one lonely night”

“A DVD?” He had heard the girls talking about them earlier but he hadn’t really been listening, too busy thinking about that practically naked man on the magazine he’d seen.

“A… recorded show on a disk that you can put in the TV to watch whenever you want. Like a vinyl for picture instead of sound. Like a film from the pictures but in your own home”

“And you chose to watch that?”

“Years ago” like that made it any better, “I was alone, depressed and horny”

“Well,” he cleared his throat, “Can you please get rid of it? Or at least promise me that I never have to look at it again”

“I swear” Jack put a hand over his heart, “I wouldn’t have turned it on if I knew that’s what you would have seen, I honestly forgot”

“Okay then” Ianto cleared his throat again, eager to move on, “Do I get the tour?”

Jack bounced up to his feet and held out his hand, “Yes! Come on, there’s something upstairs you’re going to love” Ianto made Jack show him around downstairs first, the kitchen, the laundry room, the back garden and he even peeked in the cupboard under the stairs before he let Jack drag him up them, “And this, is where the magic happens” Jack winked as he flung the bedroom door open, pleased when Ianto’s breath caught in his throat, he knew he was right in keeping the bed frame all these years, it was practically antique now

“Jack, is this…”

“The mattress is new, and so are the sheets but it’s the same frame. I, uh, have the twin in the other room as well. Couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them” he watched as Ianto gently caressed the wood and he couldn’t help himself, “Ianto, I love you. I never said it but god I love you so much it scares me”

Ianto froze, keeping his back turned as he tried to process what he was being told, “Jack…”

Jack deflated, of course he wasn’t going to say it back. “I understand if you don’t say it back, I just thought you should know, I’ve regretted not telling you for… years really. I just feel…”

Ianto closed his eyes and told himself to be brave, “You feel like you would do anything for me and you know how dangerous that is but you can’t bring yourself to care.” He gulped, “You would move heaven on earth to keep me safe and happy, pull the stars down from the sky. Any price to pay is never too much. You feel simultaneously hot and cold, the warm fizzing in your chest combats the cold dread in your stomach when you think about it too much because you’re not sure what to feel” he forced himself to turn around and meet Jacks eyes, “No matter how much your head tells you that this is wrong, your heart won’t listen, it screams at you that this is right, that this is what you want more than anything and you hold onto that, to this, as tight as you can because you’re terrified it will slip through your fingers”

“Ianto” he hadn’t said the three little words but he could read between the lines, so what if the other man couldn’t say it back just yet, Jack knew how he felt, he could wait, “Come here” he pulled him in for a hug, his body slotting against his own like a jigsaw, like he was always meant to be there, a part of himself that had finally returned

“I… feel that way too. You know that don’t you?” Ianto asked, needing to know he’d understood, “You know I’m not much of a talker”

“I know” Jack pressed a soft kiss to the side of his head as he enjoyed the sensation of holding the man he loved, “God I’ve missed you”

“I’d like to say the same but I’ve only been gone a few hours” Ianto said quietly as he pressed a soft kiss to the other man’s neck, noting how his breath caught and how he shuddered, “I’m so sorry, if I’d have known what would happen I never would have got on that plane”

“I know” Jack sighed

Ianto eyed the bed nervously, “So… I’ve been gone a long time…” he swallowed, “You said you didn’t get remarried but, uh, is there someone, I mean I don’t want to step on toes or- but I hope that’s-”

“You’re adorable” Jack cut him off, pressing a quick kiss to his lips, “And no, I’m not seeing anyone, I’m all yours if you’ll have me”

Ianto grinned, “Oh I certainly will” but before anything like that could happen Jacks phone started ringing and interrupted them, “You had better answer your radio”

“It’s not a radio, it’s a mobile telephone” Jack reminded him quickly as he pulled his mobile out and answered it seeing the caller ID, “This better be important Owen” Ianto could hear the other man faintly telling Jack that he had missed a call with UNIT and they weren’t happy not having his full attention, “Well you can tell Colonel Mace that he can fuck right off, I’m busy”

“UNIT? It must be important Jack, we should go back to the hub” Ianto gestured to the door, “If the Colonel needs your attention then we should probably hurry”

“He doesn’t, you do” Jack told him simply before returning his attention to the call, “Owen, tell him to bugger off and if he continues pestering you just sick Gwen on him, that should keep them busy for a while” without waiting fro a reply he hung up and turned back to Ianto with a leer, “Now, where were we?”

“You were going to offer me a drink while we discuss this new future that I have found myself in” Ianto ignored the blatant come on even if he was the one who had started it.

“You know, I forgot how much you loved to talk about things when we could be getting up to other fun, its like a special talent”

“I’m going to ignore that”

“Ooh, another one of your special talents!” Jack grinned smugly before Ianto grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him in for a long, dirty snog, “Oh” he gasped once he was released, “And there’s my favourite of your talents”

“Well I’m obviously rusty, you’re still talking” Ianto rolled his eyes even as a light flush was colouring his cheeks, “I’m serious though Jack, I need to you tell me about this time I’ve found myself in. I’m like a fish out of water”

“Oh I don’t know” Jack murmured, “I always figured you were a man out of your time”

“Jack”

“Okay fine, let’s see” he murmured as he swayed the to music only he could hear, “I already told you about the legalisation of homosexuality, what else, rationing is gone, remind me to take you out for dinner. We have coloured television,” he chuckled as Ianto purposefully trod on his foot, “advanced medicines, technology, hell even entertainment”

“What about war? Are we at war?”

“Even if we are I’m not letting you go. Lisa might have let you but I won’t”

“Oh please, you couldn’t stop me if you tried. Besides,” he stopped Jack’s protests before they could even start, “What would be the point going to war? You’re not there, you don’t need protecting”

“Oh I’m going to smack you, sap” Jack chuckled as he enjoyed holding his lover close after being so cold for so long, “I could stay like this forever”

“Then why don’t we” Ianto whispered into his ear, “Just you and me, alone in this room, as long as it takes”

“Don’t tempt me” he groaned, burying his nose into the crook of his neck, “I’d tie you to the bed if I could”

Ianto snorted, “I’d like to see you try”

“Again, don’t tempt me” Jack laughed back, still swaying them lightly, “I love you so much”

Ianto cleared his throat nervously, “Me too”

They could work on it, “Y’know, one day when you say it back, I’ll probably orgasm on the spot”

Ianto pushed him away, laughing for real now, “Then I’ll save it for a special occasion”

“I look forward to it”


	7. Babysitting

Much to Jacks displeasure, he couldn’t keep Ianto holed up at his place forever, he barely even got till sunrise before there was a knock on his door, “Are you going to answer that?” Ianto asked as he pulled away from Jack, something that was unacceptable in Jacks opinion. They had fallen asleep last night on the sofa and he had only just convinced Ianto to watch TV and cuddle with him, how dare someone interrupt them.

“No” he mumbled, clinging to Ianto unashamedly, “I don’t care if the world is ending, I’m not moving”

Used to his lovers antics, Ianto rolled his eyes and scooted further away from his octopus arms, “If the world is ending that means we’re both going to die, maybe we should try and prevent that from happening?”

“You’re no fun” Jack pouted before turning serious and pulling on his captain persona, “Wait here, I’ll be right back”

“Sir, yes sir” Ianto saluted, watching him as he left, yep his arse was still award worthy. He wasn’t gone long though, and when he returned it was with the Doctor from yesterday, Owen Harper if he was remembering his name correctly, “Hello again” Ianto got up and offered a hand for the man to shake

The medic rolled his eyes rather rudely and ignored it though, “Yeah, hi, whatever”

“Owen” Jack warned him in his ‘stern’ voice before turning a softer look towards his lover, “He just needs to perform another routine check to make sure you’re alright, check the rift energy is dissipating like it should” 

Ianto nodded his assent and sat where the doctor gestured, “Okay” he could handle a medical exam, they can’t have changed much. Owen scanned him with a device Ianto didn’t recognise, he listened to his chest with a stethoscope, shone a light in his eyes, took his temperature and some blood. Nothing new there then.

“All done, I’ll write up the results for you by the end of the day, the rift looks quiet so I don’t suppose you’re going to grace us with your presence today?” Owen asked his boss as he packed things up

“No” he was brutally honest, “I’m sure you can manage without me for one day. How are Dianne and Emma?”

“Gwen checked up on them this morning, was surprised this one wasn’t with them. They’re fine. Why isn’t he at the hostel?” The silent ‘with you’ went unspoken

“He has a name Owen” Jack was close to snapping at him, “Ianto will be staying with me. How did you find us anyway, this address isn’t listed”

But Owen wasn’t backing down, “I tracked the SUV and is this wise Jack? You can’t be here to babysit him all the time, Torchwood needs you. He’s practically a stranger”

“Torchwood has had me for long enough” Jack retorted, “Besides he’s a grown man, he doesn’t need babysitting and he’s not a stranger, not to me”

“Really?” Owen turned his attention to Ianto, “Do you know how an electric oven works? Do you know any road safety? Can you use a mobile phone? Do you understand how to use modern day currency? No? I didn’t think so” he shrugged, “I’m not trying to be a dick Jack but one of us has to be the responsible adult in this situation and it sure as hell ain’t you”

“He can learn!” Jack insisted, “He’s not a child!”

“He can speak for himself” Ianto interrupted the two man-children, “While I respect that I’m a little out of my depth, how much can the world really have changed in 50 years?”

“You know what?” Owen shook his head and grabbed his bag, “Enjoy teaching him about the internet, you’re on your own Jack”

Ianto crinkled his nose as the doctor stormed out, “He is not a very pleasant man”

“He grows on you” Jack deafened him weakly

Ianto smirked, “Like mould?”

“Exactly like mould” he agreed

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“What did he mean by the internet?”

-

As they were both still exhausted having only gotten a few hours of sleep, Jack had managed to persuade Ianto to take a nap with him. However when he woke up a few hours later it wasn’t to the usualm and admittedly adorable, snores of his lover, in fact Ianto’s side of the bed was stone cold, “Y’nto?” Jack grumbled, still half asleep but he got no response. Great, time to go on a Ianto hunt.

He wasn’t in the bathroom, or the kitchen. Jack couldn’t hear the television -no surpise there as Ianto didnt seem to trust them- but as he poked his head into the living room his heart settled a bit, “There you are”

Ianto didn’t even have time to turn around before he was being engulfed in a patented Jack Harkness octopus hug. He returned it, glad that Jack was here now and that they were alone. He honestly didn’t know weather or not he would have coped this well if Jack wasn’t here to keep him calm, “Hi”

“Hi” Jack echoed, nuzzling his neck sleepily, “You weren’t there when I woke up”

“Sorry” Ianto pulled away and turned so they could see eye to eye, “Your mobile phone was ringing, it woke me up”

“It did?” Jack raised an eyebrow, he hadn’t heard it and he always kept his phone in his pocket.

Ianto watched Jack fish his mobile phone out of his pocket and check his messages with a small frown, “Is it Emma and Dianne? Are they alright?”

“They’re as good as can be expected” he said, “Though Emma had a bit of a breakdown, but that’s normal. I’m still waiting for yours. Of all of you, I think Dianne is handling it the best at the moment.”

“Whats that supposed to mean?” Ianto frowned at him, “I’m doing just fine thank you”

“Really?” Jack wasn’t being condescending, his eyes were full of concern as he cradled him gently in his embrace, “You’re eyes are red rimmed, looks like you’ve been crying” he wasn’t going to mention it but he’d been given a good enough opening.

Unable to dispute the fact, Ianto glanced away and mumbled, “Lisa’s gone”

“I know you loved her” Jack gave him a small squeeze, it might not have been a romantic love the two had shred but it was love none the less, “I miss her too, and Emily. Maybe I can take you to visit their daughter?”

“That would be nice” Ianto sniffed as he hid his face in the crook of Jacks neck. It wasn’t that he was ashamed to cry in front of his lover, it was just that he felt a lot more comfortable doing it without Jack staring at him like a freak on display.

“We’ll go after Christmas, hmm? Make a day of it” Jack crooned gently as he allowed Ianto to take the comfort he needed. He was just glad he wasn’t internalising everything like he used to, it was good to let it all out, “For now though, why don’t we do something fun?”

“Fun?” Ianto sniffed

“Yeah, we’re in the future! There’s bound to be something we can do for fun” Jack enthused, “I could take you to the pictures, we could grab a bite to eat, I could take you shopping for some new clothes. Anything you want”

Wiping his eyes, Ianto gave his lover a calculated look, “Anything?”

“Well, within reason. I can’t take you to the moon” Jack joked before realising Ianto had no idea about the moon landings, yet another thing to catch him up on, “So?”

Jack could practically see the gears turning behind Ianto’s eyes as he thought hard about it, “Could we go for a walk?” He eventually settled on, looking unsure as he asked, “Just the two of us, you could show me the park”

“You want to go on a walk?” Jack checked, “You don’t want to do something a little more… special, _exciting?”_

He wasn’t expecting Ianto to smile at him and turn him into a puddle of goo with just a few sweetly chosen words, “You are all the excitement I need right now Jack”

It had been years since anyone wanted him for who he was, Jack couldn’t remember the last time he had dropped the Captain persona and just been Jack. Then here Ianto was, shyly asking for whatever scraps he would throw his way. He had almost forgotten how to be himself, the Jack who would spend Sunday mornings helping Ianto complete the crossword, the Jack who stopped to smell the flowers before picking them to make a bouquet for the man he loved. He missed that Jack, the Jack who fell in love.

“Come on then” he felt a weight lift off his shoulders that had been there so long he was almost floating on air now it was gone, “Let’s go”


	8. No, seriously... Babysitting?!

The peace didn’t last long however, Jack didn’t even get half a day of interrupted reconnecting with his lover before he was dragged back kicking and screaming into Torchwood, “Come on Jack” Ianto rolled his eyes as he practically carried him back to the SUV. They had been about to sit down and have a pint at the pub when Jack’s mobile phone started singing, there was a situation at the Hub that needed his attention.

“Fine” Jack huffed as he got behind the wheel, “But it better be important or I’m going to-”

“Issue empty threats, I know. Come on lets get a shift on” Typical, even now he was the grown up out of the two of them, you’d think a couple of decades would mature Jack but he was as childish as ever.

The drive in was a little bumpy and fast but Ianto was used to Jack’s driving, he would need to get a new license as soon as possible if he wanted to get around without being constantly travel sick.

Jack should learn to be careful what he wished for, when they arrived in the hub Toshiko was waiting for them with a regretful expression, “Talk to me Tosh”

“Its Dianne, Owen was checking her over again because she said she felt sick… well its probably best for him to tell you. He’s down in the med bay with her now”

Concerned, Jack gestured for Ianto to stay with Tosh and hurried to go get his answers. He found Dianne sat as still as a statue, pale as a sheet while Owen stood next to her awkwardly, “Whats the situation?”

Owen looked back and forth between his patient and his boss, “Dianne do you mind if-”

“I’m pregnant” she cut him off, turning to look at Jack with wild panicked eyes, “I’m going to have a baby”

“That's good, isn't it?” Jack asked her nervously after a moment, “From where I'm standing it looks good to me”

“It’s a baby” she repeated herself, “I’m going to have a baby”

Jack opened his mouth to comfort her but Owen got there first, patting her on the shoulder gently, “You wont be alone, we’re going to be here with you every step of the way”

“How far long?” Jack asked

“Two and a half months” Owen licked his lips nervously, “Now I have to ask, Dianne do you want to continue this pregnancy? I know its not something they used to do in the fifties but now there is a specialist medical procedure that can terminate a pregnancy within the first three months if that’s what you want”

“Terminate it?” She asked with a slightly horrified expression, “You mean kill it?”

“Some parents don’t feel like they are ready, others have personal reasons not to want to go through a full pregnancy. It’s entirely up to you, I just wanted to give you the option” Owen quickly backtracked

Jack walked down the steps and put a hand on her other shoulder in support, “I take from your reaction that a termination isn’t something you’re interested in?”

“No” Dianne shook her head slowly, she was clearly still in shock

Owen fiddled with his clipboard nervously, “The father…”

“Owen” Jack sent him a reproachful glare

Throwing his hands up in surrender, Owen said, “To give this baby the best chance it’s got I need to know the medical history of the father”

Dianne swallowed past the lump in her throat and pinched the bridge of her nose as she answered him, “I had a lover, he was married. His name was James Foster, he worked in the airforce”

“I’ll get Tosh to start searching for his file, any information you can give us about him will help us narrow the search down” Jack didn’t bat an eyelash, after all who was he to judge? He’d had an affair with a married man too hadn’t he? Though in his case the wife knew all about it, was fucking his own wife as well, it was a perfect arrangement.

Jack hurried off to start the search, leaving Owen alone with Dianne, “How are you feeling?” He asked after a moment of slightly awkward silence

“All my life I’ve rebelled against pig-headed men telling me what I’m supposed to do, get married, settle down, have a child, be the perfect little housewife… now look at me”

Owen sighed, it wasn’t the best situation but he would be dammed if he wouldn’t make it work, “Can I get you anything?”

“A cigarette” she replied immediately

“Ah, Sorry” Owen winced, “You shouldn’t really smoke while you’re pregnant, it can harm the baby” he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug, “Guess I’m just another pig-headed man telling you what to do”

Dianne sniffed and gave a watery chuckle, “You’d better make it up to me I guess, I expect you to teach me all about this new world”

Meanwhile upstairs Jack had found Ianto stood in front of a computer, focusing hard with his tongue poking out a bit. He appeared to be trying to open Google like he’d shown him earlier but he wasn’t very successful, “Need help?”

“I’m fine” Ianto glared at the screen a little before a beautiful smile bloomed on his face, “I did it”

“Yes you did” he refrained from teasing but only just, the word grandad on the tip of his tongue, “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to research Michael Jackson” Ianto admitted sheepishly, fishing a piece of paper out of his pocket, “Toshiko gave me a list of influential people I might find interesting. Next is Nelson Mandela and then Neil Armstrong”

“Quite a selection she went for” Jack smirked, “You want another couple of names for the list?”

“Sure, that would be great” Ianto smiled, not seeing the trap carefully laid in front of him

“Well, there’s Mike Rotch, Ben Dover, Anya Kneeze… who else, Oh I know, Heywood U.Cuddleme” Jack grinned as Ianto glared at him, having actually written the first two down before he realised what was happening, “What?”

“You’re an awful man”

“You love me really” Jack teased quietly, feeling both proud and sorry when Ianto blushed and looked away quickly to continue his research into the king of pop, deciding to leave him to it, Jack squeezed his shoulder in apology and walked over towards Tosh to help her with their search. James Foster, he might still be alive.

-

When wen got back from her extended lunch, she was surprised to see two of their rift victims lounging around in the hub. They weren’t supposed to be here, they were supposed to be out in the real world finding new lives for themselves, far away from Torchwood. This wouldn’t do at all, “Jack” she cut in the conversation he was having with Owen and tried for a pretty smile to distract him, “Can we talk? Its important”

Jack sighed and nodded, “Alright, wait in the office, I’ll be through in a minute”

Gwen wanted to demand he talk to her now but he had been rather short with her lately, she needed to tread carefully, “Okay, thanks Jack” she ended up waiting nearly five minutes before he joined her and even then he only seemed to be half listening to her, “The rift victims, should they really be here? I thought we were setting them up with new lives? We can’t let them just wander in whenever they feel like it, this is Torchwood”

“Dianne was only in today for medical reasons and Ianto is an Agent too if you’ve forgotten, he has every right to be here” Jack defended them

“He can’t be an Agent,” Gwen argued, “He doesn’t know how to use the computers so he can’t coordinate the missions, he can’t use our weapons because he has no training! He needs to get a job somewhere safe,” she gave him a beseeching look, “If he stays at Torchwood he will get hurt”

Jack stalled, that made sense. Ianto would get hurt if he stayed at Torchwood, “While that might be true Gwen, Ianto is still on active duty. His contracts quite clear and still stands since he didn’t die”

“Well, you’re the boss. Can’t we let him go, retire?” Gwen pushed knowing she was going to get her way as Jack nodded subconsciously. Soon Mr Jones would be out of the way and everything could go back to normal

“That’s not a bad idea” he was the boss after all, he could take Ianto off active duty, he could keep him safe at home

“So you’ll do it then? I really only want whats best for him” Gwen smiled, doing a victory dance in her head, this was all too easy

”I’ll consider it” Jack promised, after all he would have to talk to Ianto first, his lover wouldn’t take too kindly to being let go even if it was what was best for him


	9. An Ultimatum

“No” Ianto said simply as Jack broached the subject later in the afternoon. Owen had taken Dianne back to the Hostel and the girls were doing work at their desks, leaving Jack a free office to try talk Ianto into retiring

“But-”

“Jack” Ianto leant forward with a carefully crafted calm expression, “The only two constants in my life right now are Torchwood and you. I’m not a field agent, you know I can’t be with my leg. I’m perfectly safe doing paperwork in the Archives”

“I could just fire you” Jack was grasping at straws, “I could lock you out of the hub”

“You could” Ianto agreed, leaning back, “But if you do then I will be forced to move back into the hostel because I can’t live with a man who would do that to me”

“Are you giving me an ultimatum?”

Ianto rolled his eyes, “No you silly man, I am showing you what it feels like to have something you care about ripped away from you for stupid reasons”

“Oh”

“I’m good at my job, paperwork doesn’t change. Christ, you still use the same form to record the rift gifts” Jacks head snapped up at the term Ianto used to describe the debris and inanimate junk the rift spat out at them, he had forgotten he used to call them that, rift gifts, ha, “Jack?”

“What?”

“You were just saying that I’m allowed to stay” Ianto prompted him, “And that I get a big Christmas bonus for putting up with the boss”

“I thought that was a perk of the job?” Jack shot back with a smile. Maybe he had been a bit rash in his decision, he had only just got Ianto back but the idea of the hub without him wasn’t an appealing one, “If I let you stay,” he crossed his arms trying to seem more stern, “You’re not cleared for field duty, you will not be permitted to join us on retrievals and you will never even _touch_ a gun without my express permission. Are we clear?”

“Crystal” Ianto gave him a bemused smile, “I don’t know where you got this idea from but I never wanted to do any of that anyway. I’m perfectly happy pottering about here, doing the paperwork and staying far away from the action. I saw enough of that during the war”

“Yes” Jack nodded, trying not to think about when he was shot in the leg, “Yes I suppose you did”

Clapping his hands, Ianto got to his feet, “Right, if that’s all I’m going to read the coffee machine manual and see if I can figure out how to use it”

“Knock yourself out” Jack waved him out of the office but Ianto only got three steps away before he was rushing to the door to shout out a warning not to burn himself. Ha, and Jack thought he wasn’t the mum of the family.

Not too much later, Tosh knocked on the office door and came in holding a single piece of paper, “Jack, its James Foster. I found him”

“And?” Jack reached for the paper as she handed it over, “Ah,” suicide, over twenty years ago, “Thanks Tosh, I’ll break it to Dianne in the morning. Why don’t you and Gwen take an early night?”

“If you’re sure” she wasn’t about to argue, an early night in would do her the world of good, “I’ll let Gwen know now.” He watched her head towards Gwen’s desk but was distracted when Ianto knocked on his door holding a cup of what smelt like coffee

“You’re a life saver Ianto Jones” he beamed as Ianto handed him the coffee, “What would I do without you?” Ianto opened his mouth but seemed to reconsider what he was going to say if the sound of his teeth clacking together was anything to go by. In retrospect that had been a bad choice of words of Jacks part, “None for yourself?” He asked instead

“Uh, no. If I drink anything now I’ll be up all night and I’m tired enough as it is without pulling another all nighter”

“Fair enough” Jack said before taking his first sip, it wasn’t amazing but considering it was his first cup Ianto hadn’t don’t a bad job, “Amazing, I love your coffee”

“You don’t have to lie” Ianto smiled to show he didn’t mind, “I know it’s not great but hopefully I’ll get the hang of it soon enough”

“Speaking of getting the hang of things,” Jack segwayed flawlessly, “I saw you looking up driving lessons earlier”

“I know, you were practically sat on my lap at the time” Ianto teased him

Jack flirted back, “Well you know I love to sit there”

“All too well” he tried to smother a yawn, “But I would quite like to get my licence back, maybe save up and buy a car. I remember you saying that everyone would have cars in the future, at least one per family”

“I did say that” Jack nodded thoughtfully, “I can book you in for some lessons if you’d like, get you a book so you can study the theory side of things”

“Theory?”

“You will have to pass a theory test as well as the practical one,” Jack explained, “Things are a lot more tedious these days. Much more legislation getting in our way”

“Not all of it bad though” Ianto smiled softly as he nudged their feet together under Jacks desk

“No” Jack smiled back, heart eyes in full effect, “I suppose not”

Unfortunately their moment was ruined by Gwen knocking rather loudly on the door and barging in without a second thought, it was almost comical how quickly Ianto yanked his foot away, that was defiantly something they were going to have to work on, “Jack”

“Yes Gwen?”

“Have you had chance to consider what we were talking about earlier?” She gave him the gentle push he needed to get rid of Mr Jones

“I have” Jack nodded, steepling his hands together under his chin

“And?” Had he already fired him?

“Mr Jones is going to continue his contract working for Torchwood, he will be our Archivist”

“but-”

“This isn’t up for discussion, now I have given you and Toshiko and early night so I suggest you make use of it, go home to Rhys” 

Gwen left the office in disbelief, whatever Jones was doing to Jack was unacceptable, he never ignored her decisions. She was going to get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing she did or her name wasn’t Gwen Cooper! There was something going on, a secret being kept and she didn’t like it one bit.

Once the cog wheel shut behind Gwen, Jack followed Ianto down into the main section of the hub and snagged his hand with a smile, “We seem to be alone at last Mr Jones” Apart from the few kisses traded back and forth, the two lovers hadn’t yet reconnected. A blunder that Jack was all too eager to rectify.

With a laugh Ianto shook his head but didn’t pull his hand free, “I’m done in and ready to sleep for a month, time travel is tiring work” he raised Jacks hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles that had Jack’s knees going weak, “Why don’t you you wake me up early tomorrow morning, you can try and seduce me then and you’ll get a more enthusiastic response”

“Yeah?” Jack’s eyes sparkled as he smirked

With a chuckle Ianto nodded before heading to the cog door, pulling him along by their still connected hands, “Come on, once we get home you can enthral me with some tall tale of how dashing you are while I fall asleep in your octopus arms.”

Jack shrugged, “Sure, I could do that.” He pulled him back by their join hands and into a warm embrace, “But then you already know my best ones since they’re about you” He brushed a gentle kiss on his cheek and smiled, “Now then Mr Jones, I believe you wanted me to tuck you into bed?”

Tosh watched the two men leave the hub with wide eyes from behind her computer, well that was a surprise.


	10. It was an Old Desk

Jack wasn’t too sure about Emma’s new job in London but he wasn’t about to stand in her way, instead he equipped her with everything she might need and got one of his contacts in the local area to keep an eye on her for the first six months or so. Just in case. 

Then there was Dianne’s pregnancy to deal with, luckily Owen seemed to have stepped up and was taking excellent care of her. Perhaps too well, he made a mental note to talk to him later and figure out what his motives were, for now he had Tosh to worry about as she seemed to be chewing on something. He would give her to the end of the day before approaching her and sorting it himself. He’d learnt form past experience that it was for the best to act quickly if he noticed one of his team acting out of sorts.

“Jack, coffee?” Ianto asked, poking his head around the doorframe

“I would love a cup” Jack said absently as he looked around his desk for his pen

Ianto set a cup down just far enough away that he wouldn’t accidentally knock it over but still within reach before tapping his shoulder and taking his pen from behind his ear, “Looking for this?”

“Ah, yes, I was. Thank you” Jack smiled sheepishly, “How are the Archives?”

“In a state” Ianto sighed, “Nightmarish but not unsalvageable”

Jack grabbed his cup of coffee and took a sip before responding, “It really isn’t my fault”

“I never said it was” Ianto shot the cuffs of his ancient suit and tilted his head towards the door, “If that’s everything Captain?” They really needed to get him a new wardrobe, not that Jack didn’t love the look he had now but Ianto would look amazing dressed in modern clothing, a nice tight suit... maybe some jeans.

“Tease” Jack pouted into his cup, there had been a rift alert that morning so he had been forced to leave an adorable sleepy Ianto in bed and had missed out on the promised morning sex

It wasn’t just Jack who was craving their physical intimacy though, Ianto was almost as bad and from his perspective it hadn’t even been that long, “You know…” he trailed off feeling unsure but Jacks interested expression urged him to go on, “Your lunch break is in about half an hour and the Archives are a lot less organised than they used to be”

“Look I already told you it wasn’t my fault-”

“I just mean it would be almost too easy for someone to get lost down there” Ianto could feel his face heating up at what he was suggesting but he thought it was worth it to see the incredulous look on his lovers face, “Might need help finding my way back”

“Ianto Jones” Jack purred, beyond excited, “Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?”

“I doubt it, but then again I have always been the more _imaginative_ of the two of us” he pulled his pocket watch out and checked the time, “Fifteen minutes Captain”

Jack watched with wide eyes as Ianto bloody sauntered out of his office with a wink, a _wink!_ Had he just imagined that, that man was still full of surprises. Jack barely lasted five minutes before chasing after him, calling out to everyone that Ianto was lost in the Archives and that he might be a while, missing the way Tosh frowned at his retreating back as he practically raced downstairs.

Ianto was waiting for him by his old desk, at some point in the last couple of days he had moved a coffee machine downstairs and was currently stood brewing a pot, “Hi Jack, the coffee is almost done” he smirked

“Screw the coffee,” Jack groaned, plastering himself against his lovers back as he pressed open mouthed kisses against his neck. He knew he needed to be careful now more than ever not to leave a mark as it would lead to some difficult questions he couldn’t explain away with the mention of his wife

Ianto couldn’t help but shiver and push back into Jacks warmth, “So you’d rather screw the coffee than me?” he gasped as Jack started grinding against his arse, “I think I’m jealous.”

“Turn off the damned machine and bend over the desk” Jack ordered.

“I rather thought I could bend _you_ over it after all, it is my turn” Ianto teased but Jack was more than willing to obey, he practically flung himself over the desk as he tore at his clothes, “Someone’s eager”

“Yeah and he’s about to fuck me” Jack shot back over his shoulder as he proudly displayed his arse, even giving it a little shake to entice his lover, “Come on, I’ve waited long enough don’t you think?”

Ianto chuckled in response but slowly made his way over, now sure he might have been the one to suggest they do this but he wasn’t about to strip naked like Jack had in his place of work, minimum clothing removal was kind of his forte so in the end he settled for unfastening his trousers and unbuttoning his shirt. Jack had his back to him anyway, its not like he could see him, “If you want something, you only have to ask,” Ianto whispered into Jack's ear as he reached in front of him and ran his fingers lightly along the length of his cock, squeezing and teasing as they went. 

It seemed so very long since another person had touched him that Jack's knees buckled, his hands braced against the desk. It was the only thing keeping him upright. This was going to wreck him in more ways than one, “Yan..?” Jack moaned out the name, the hand on him felt so good, too good, but he wanted more than this, needed more, with some difficulty Jack regained his balance and turned to face Ianto. The man's hand never ceased its caresses, for a second a knowing smile played across his lips.

“What is it you want Jack?” Ianto asked, needing clear guidelines as to how far they were going to go

“I want you Ianto,” Jack was close to begging, it had been so long, “Inside me, right _now_.”

Ianto groaned as he palmed his own crotch, cursing his spontaneity as he hadn’t thought to bring anything with him, “We need oil”

“In my trousers” Jack nodded towards where he flung them, “There’s a tube of lube in there, trust me its not the oil you’re used to but it works”

Ianto found it easily enough but was a bit hesitant to use it, “Are you sure?”

“Ianto” Jack said calmly even as his downstairs brain was in full control, “I will gladly discus different types of lube with you later but now, for the love of everything good and pure, fuck me”

He didn’t need telling twice, after fumbling his way through preparing his lover Ianto quickly replaced his fingers with the head of his cock, pushing slowing, moaning with pleasure as he disappeared inside the man. Jack was near tears as he felt Ianto inch forward, not because it hurt but because it felt so good. 

He knew he’d enjoyed sex with Ianto before but he had nearly forgotten how it felt on an emotional level. To trust someone so completely, to be so vulnerable but so cherished, it was almost too much. He savoured the sounds coming from the Welshman almost as much as he savoured the feeling of him being inside him, knowing that he was pleasuring Ianto even as he also took pleasure from him.

Within seconds Ianto was completely engulfed, he paused, relishing the sensation, torn for a moment between his desire to fuck Jack hard and come quickly and his desire to enjoy every second for as long as he could. However they did it, the most important thing was to make sure Jack enjoyed himself.

Finally Ianto began to move, gripping Jack’s hips for balance, he set up a slow steady pace, thrusting as deeply as he could with each forward motion, winning him cries of pleasure from Jack as each thrust hit just the right spot. He used all the tricks in his arsenal, tugging gently at his hair in time to his thrusts, hitting the spot he knew all too well as often as he could, and lets not forget the whispering in his ear.

Ianto felt a bit stupid whispering a toss up of sweet and filthy things to his lover but he knew Jack really enjoyed it so to hell with his embarrassment. Jack's breaths were becoming short gasps, mingled with heavy moans and it wasn't long before his cock was throbbing rapidly in Ianto’s grip.

His body trembled beneath his lover and Jack barely heard the creaking of the old desk under him as he reached his climax, tipping over the edge with a muffled cry. That was all Ianto needed, he had waited as long as he could but he soon followed Jack into their post coital bliss. Unfortunately, before the two lovers could even catch their breath Jack felt the desk give way under him as Ianto heard the old wood creak under their combined weight.

It wasn’t a pretty sight, the naked Captain face first in splintered wood, sprawled out on the cold concrete floor with a half dressed Welshman on top of him, “Shit” he groaned as he tried to sit up, “What happened?”

Ianto quickly rolled off him and started fixing his clothes, his cheeks flushed, “We broke the desk”

“Oh” Jack sounded almost proud, “Looks like we did”

“It was old anyway, are you alright?” Ianto suddenly stopped fiddling with his own clothes and started gathering Jacks, even helping him into his shirt

Jack melted at the sweet gesture and pressed a soft kiss to his lovers lips, “I’m good, fantastic in fact. God, I’d almost forgotten the effect you have on me baby. I’m going to feel you all day”

“Not your baby, Sweet-Cheeks” Ianto replied automatically, it was a knee jerk reaction by now 

Jack bit his lip as Ianto buttoned up his shirt for him, “Of course not” he quickly glanced around him at the broken remains of the desk and got a brilliant idea, “You know what this means? We get to go buy a new desk”

“How will we explain how this one broke?” Ianto as he got to his feet

“Easy,” Jack smirked, “It collapsed as we enthusiastically tried to move it across the room”

“You’re unbelievable” Ianto rolled his eyes at the idiot still sat on the floor without his trousers on

“You wouldn’t have me any other way” Jack teased but Ianto just silently agreed as he helped him to his feet.

-

Toshiko waited until Ianto was down in the Archives and everyone else was hard at work before approaching Jack who was sat in his office staring blankly at his computer screen, “Jack? Are you busy?”

“Never too busy for you” Jack gave her a relieved smile, all too glad to avoid some work, “Is everything ok?”

“I think so” she nodded, taking a seat, “Its just, I need to tell you something and I hope you won’t be mad” A lot more serious, Jack resisted the urge to frown as he gave her his full attention, “I saw you yesterday, after Gwen left”

“You saw me?” Jack asked, internally panicking

Tosh carried on with a nod, “I was shutting down the systems, Gwen came out of your office and left, then I saw Ianto and you. It seemed like you two were… close”

‘Shit’ Jack thought as he leant back in his chair, “Tosh I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, whatever you think you saw, you didn’t. Mr Jones is a colleague and a friend but nothing more”

Raising an eyebrow, Tosh explained, “Last night, after you left I decided to do some research. Did you know that Ianto’s wife, Elizabeth remarried after he disappeared? To a recently divorced woman, who just so happened to live next door. They raised a child together”

“Really? That’s interesting, I don’t see why it has anything to do with me though” Jack bluffed

“She was married to a Captain Jackson Harkness” Tosh levelled him with a calculating look, “What’s going on Jack?”

Well, fuck, Jack thought as he tried to think up some lie to feed her, “Lots of people are called Jack, it’s a very common name”

Tosh wasn’t having it though,“I saw you last night, you kissed him!”

“I don’t know what you think you saw but-”

“Jack,” Tosh sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, “I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but I know there is something between the two of you. Ever since he arrived you’ve been joint at the hip… the way you look at him when you think we can’t see you…”

“You don’t mess about, do you?” He sighed, running a hand over his face, “Yes, alright? Ianto and I are… involved but you can’t say anything to him” he was actually considering retcon, “Ianto cannot know that you know, it would freak him out”

“Why do you think I came to you instead of him?” Tosh asked patiently, “I know what time period he is from. I still don’t understand though,” she prodded, “How can you have met him in the forties?”

“That, Toshiko, is a very long, very complicated story that I will share with you another day.” He held his hand up when she went to push him, “It isn’t only my story to tell”

Nodding thoughtfully Tosh agreed to let it drop, “I understand”

“You have to swear you wont breathe a word of this to the others” Jack made her promise, “He’s still trying to find his feet here. Ianto doesn’t want anyone to know yet, he’s still... adjusting”

“Of course I wont say anything, I just wanted to let you know I knew” she told him, “What are the chances, eh?”

Jack sighed, clearly love sick, “I can’t believe I got him back”

“A word of advice?” She told him as she stood up to leave his office, “Don’t loose him again, love suits you Jack”


	11. Romeo and Juliet

While Jack hadn’t been known to plan things out throughly in the past, he had learned from his mistakes and gave his lover plenty of warning before taking him to the palace for the second time. Ianto was still sore about not getting the heads up before and used it against him all the time. He had forgotten to eat lunch? Well Jack had forgotten to let him know he was a friend of the king so they were even.

What he hadn’t accounted for was the stress that seemed to multiply as the visit drew nearer, the night before they were set to leave Ianto was a wreck, “Ianto, you need to calm down” he sighed from his spot on the bed as Ianto dithered over which tie he should wear. He only had three for the love of god, how hard was it to choose one?

“I am calm” Ianto snapped as he threw all three ties back onto the rack with a huff

Jack set his book down on the bedside table and pinned his lover with an unimpressed look, “Really?”

“Really” Ianto glared at him, daring him to push the subject

“Because from where I’m standing-”

“You’re not standing, you’re sitting” Ianto corrected him pedantically, changing his tune almost immediately when Jack got out of bed and started walking towards the door, “Wait! Where are you going?”

Jack paused at the door and raised an eyebrow at him, “I’m going to the spare room, you obviously don’t want my company”

“I do” Ianto licked his lips nervously, “Please”

“Are you going to calm down and come to bed?” Jack asked as Ianto shifted from foot to foot nervously

“I-” Ianto stopped himself, seeming to swallow whatever it is he wanted to say as he nodded his head instead, “Yes”

“Alright then” Jack said confidently as he got back into bed even if he thought things were still a bit tense, Ianto got in next to him almost awkwardly and didn’t move to close the distance between them like he usually did, “What are you doing all the way over there?”

“Sorry” Ianto mumbled, shuffling over but when Jack finally got his arms around his lover he felt as stiff as a board

“Ianto, what is it?” Jack asked him, worried this was something more than nerves, “Talk to me” but he just shook his head silently and tensed further in his hold, “Ianto-”

“I’m fine” he whispered, “Please, lets just go to sleep”

Jack pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder and tried again, “You should be able to tell me anything, you should be able to trust me”

“This has nothing to do with trust” Ianto sighed, sounding exhausted, “This is a me problem not a you problem”

“Your problems _are_ my problems, just as mine are yours” Jack squeezed him, “But if you don’t want to tell me, its fine”

They laid in silence, neither one of them asleep after that for a good ten minutes before Ianto cracked like Jack hoped he would, “I… are you really going to make me say it?” He huffed, “I’m scared, there I said it, we can move on”

“Hey, hey, hang on a minute” Jack mumbled into his shoulder, “What are you scared of? If you tell me I can help”

“Its stupid” Ianto groaned, his voice full of self loathing as he tried to pull away but Jack held on tight and pulled him closer into his chest, “ _Jack_ ”

“Nothing about you is stupid, not what you think, not what you feel, none of it. You could wake up tomorrow morning and tell me the world was going to be invaded by alien cacti who spoke Spanish and I would just ask you which bunker you wanted to hide out in till it blew over”

“Alien cacti?” Ianto asked with a small smile, “Spanish?”

“We’re getting off topic” He gave him a gentle nudge knowing he couldn’t force Ianto to open up but hoping against all odds that he would

“I don’t want to- for her majesty to declare me unfit for duty” Ianto finally admitted, “I know I’ve been a pain but everything needs to be perfect”

“Ok” Jack nodded, processing what he had been told, “Why would she declare you unfit for duty?”

“I’m hardly competent with computers, all I’m good for is making mediocre coffee and filing the paperwork that you don’t even use anymore. A computer could do my job in an instant”

“The Archives are very important” Jack argued, “You said so yourself, the place would crumbled without them”

“Just like it did in the fifty years without someone to maintain them” Ianto grumbled

Jack had to admit he had a point there but he was still mostly wrong, “Torchwood needs you, I need you. Before you came back I was handling all the bureaucracy bollocks myself, you know I’m not a diplomat, I ruffle feathers and you smooth them back down again”

“Without Torchwood, I don’t know what I would do” Ianto told him, “I can’t lose you Jack”

“You’re not going to” Jack kissed the top of his head, “I promise, now get some sleep. Busy day tomorrow. I’ll be right here when you wake up” just let them try and give Ianto the sack, he’d just hire him back under a different name if it came to it. Like Toshiko had told him, he had to hang onto this tight, he wasn’t letting Ianto Jones go for a second time.

-

“Just be calm” Jack whispered as the security approached to check them over for concealed weapons before they would be allowed inside, “Lizzy is like any other woman, she just has the best jewellery”

“She’s our Queen” Ianto hissed having serious flashbacks to when they were doing this all those years ago. Jack hadn’t aged a day and his fashion sense had clearly stopped evolving back then too, the coat a good look but sometimes Ianto wished he could see Jack in modern clothing. He saw the men in magazines wearing tight trousers he knew would look amazing on his lover. Not that he said any of this as then he would have to admit to buying said magazines in the first place.

Security as always wasn’t an issue and soon Jack was breezing through the palace like it was a second home, “Just let me-”

“Do all the talking” Ianto smiled weakly, “Yes, I remember”

“Don’t forget the ‘try not to faint’ bit,” Jack grinned as they reached the throne room, Ianto just silently cursed him and tried to keep up as Jack waltzed into the room like he owned the place, “Queen Elizabeth, it’s been too long since I last visited” Jack did the usual bow and Ianto hurried to copy

Ianto couldn’t teaser his eyes away from her as she spoke to them, his eyes were wide and Jack wished he had a little window into his mind so he could see what was ratting around his head, “Captain Harkness, Mr Jones, we are glad you are here. It is good to see you again, it has been quite some time”

“As are we” Jack beamed at the little girl he had watched grow up into a fierce leader

“When we heard of your return, we were most shocked Mr Jones but pleased none the less. How are you adjusting?”

Ianto took a deep breath and told himself not to make an arse of himself like he had done last time, Jack had teased him about his stuttering something awful, “Very well your majesty, thank you”

“I have been informed that you wish to continue your employment within my institute” she gave him her full attention which made every single cell in Ianto’s body cringe and want to hide in a cupboard

“I do” Ianto bit the inside of his lip, “I feel as if I could contribute a great deal to the cause, I am a hard worker and am already on my way to being able to operate the new systems on my own”

The Queen held up a hand to silence him and Ianto damn near bit off his own tongue in a haste to shut up, “This isn’t an interview, the job is still yours if you wish. Goodness knows I miss receiving your reports, the Captain never did have your... _finesse_ in writing” she smiled at him kindly, “I only asked because I have many other positions I could offer to you here, in London”

“London?” Ianto repeated but Jack was quick to end that train of thought

“He is my archivist” Jack told her possessively, “His place is with Torchwood”

“Now now Captain,” she chided him, “Mr Jones is capable of making his own decisions”

Resisting the urge to smirk a his lovers pouting face, Ianto tipped his head and politely declined, “If it is alright with her majesty, I would prefer to stay in Wales. The Archives are in need of an upheaval of magnitude”

“Very well” she rose to her feet, “Now, you both must be hungry after your journey, let us join for a spot of afternoon tea”

“That would be lovely Lizzy” Jack smiled, shooting Ianto a wink behind her back as he followed her into the tea room, “A spot of tea is just what the Captain ordered”

Once again Ianto was left wondering if this was reality or if he was about to be rudely awoken any minute from a dream. Much like las time, he though to himself, the only thing that could make this any more bizarre and unbelievable would be if Jack took him off to a dark corner somewhere and buggered him senseless. No, seriously Ianto, he asked himself, do you never learn? You shouldn’t think about buggering Jack in front of royalty, the horror and embarrassment of getting an erection in front of the Queen will. kill. you. 

And people thought Jack was the inappropriate one.

-

“So” Jack smiled as he glanced over quickly at his lover as he drove them home, “Was it worth all the stress? I told you everything would be fine”

“Alright, you were right” Ianto rolled his eyes, “Don’t let it go to your head”

“Too late” Jack laughed, “I told you Lizzie was secretly a sweet heart”

“Hmm” Ianto nodded, “She reminded me of her father, strong, fierce”

“Hot” Jack offered

Ianto wasn’t impressed though, giving him a funny look, “Really?”

Without an ounce of self-copiousness he nodded, “Yeah”

“You didn’t think she was…” now Ianto wasn’t a shallow person but the thought had been plaguing him all day, “Old?”

“Ah” Jack nodded, finally understanding the wide eyed look his lover had been giving the Queen, it made sense now he thought about it. The last time Ianto had seen the queen she was a young woman, it must have been strange for him to see her like she was now, laughter lines and all, “So that’s what’s got a bee in your bonnet.”

“It’s just, you don’t get older” Ianto bit his lip, “I would be even older than her if I hadn’t got on that plane”

“So?”

“So… I would be grey, wrinkly, old”

“I don’t see what you’re getting at”

Ianto sighed and looked out of the window, it was easier to say if he didn’t have to look at his lovers face, “Unless your doctor comes soon and helps you… I’m going to look older than you”

“Well for a man in his late seventies, you’re not half bad” Jack joked, looking over expecting Ianto to roll his eyes and make some smart comment but saw him looking out of the window instead, “Ianto, I love you”

“For now” he whispered

“Yes for now” Jack told him sternly, “And in the future and in the past, I’ve loved you for years and will love you for years to come. You’re it for me. Wrinkles and all”

“You can’t know that” Ianto sighed, “I love you too but- CHRIST!” He shouted as Jack swerved the car dangerously, “What the hell Jack!”

“Shit sorry!” He pulled over

Ianto looked out of the window to see if any other cars had spun out, “What happened?”

“You said you loved me, that’s the first time you said it” Jack blamed him, “Its not my fault”

Ianto hadn’t even realised he had said it, “And you think that’s a good enough excuse to almost get us both killed?”

“No, sorry. You just surprised me” Jack told himself to get a grip, “I love you too”

Ianto decided to just ignore the fact his lover had almost killed him, he put a line under it and moved on, it wasn’t worth arguing about, he was alive, he could be mad at Jack when he killed him, “You’re insane” he paused for a second before adding, “But I do love you, I’m sorry it too me so long to say it back and for almost getting us killed by choosing the wrong moment”

“Are you kidding?” Jack asked with a twinkle in his eyes, “Now we have a great story to tell, the time when we were driving home from afternoon tea with the Queen and almost crashed the car confessing we loved each other. We could sell the rights and make a film about it”

Ianto shook his head and reached over to cup his cheek gently, “My insane Captain”

Mirroring his pose, Jack whispered back, “My brave baby”

“ _And_ you ruined it” Ianto snorted, pulling away with a roll of the eyes

“You love it really” Jack argued, he was 99% sure, “Y’know” he said as he put the SUV back in gear, “We don’t have soulmates were I come from, when I came to earth I was baffled by the idea”

“Hmm” Ianto closed his eyes, listening intently

“But living here, meeting you, loving you, losing you and finding you again, it’s like fate”

“As long as you don’t start telling me it was written in the stars before we met and expect me to form a suicide pact with you, I don’t really mind.”

Jack smirked as he tried to focus on the road, “You can be my Romeo any day”

“That would make you Juliet” Ianto pointed out, peeking at him out of the corner of his eye

Jack laughed with a teasing smile, “Remind me to get the dressing up box out”


	12. Weevil-nappers

Jack cursed as he followed the Weevil down an alley, he should be at home right about now having dinner with his Welshman but instead he was out chasing a bloody Weevil up and down the streets. Eventually, after far too much running even for him, he managed to trap it in a dead end, “Hate to break it to you, you’re not my first.” He needed to get his kicks where he could, “Anti-Weevil spray. Handclamps. Come on, let’s make this easy for both of us.”

Unfortunately the Weevil didn’t want to play nice and rushed at him, for a moment Jack though the had the upper hand but just as he was about to try spray the damn thing again it managed to escape his grasp, slash him across the chest before scurrying off, “This always happens when I give them the night off” he had no other choice but to give chase again whilst lamenting the loss of yet another shirt, Ianto was going to be furious with him.

Meanwhile two streets over, Owen was smiling at Dianne across the table, he had finally managed to convince her to join him for dinner and he was going to make it count, “How is your food?”

“Its good, I think I’m finally getting used to all the extra flavours you have nowerdays. I don’t think I could ever go back to eating… why are you looking at me like that?”

“Sorry, like what?” Owen blinked

“Like I have something on my face” She laughed before something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, something was running past at an in readable speed, “What was that?”

Owen followed her eye line and saw his boss run out of an alley covered in blood, why couldn’t he get one undisturbed night off? Of course as luck would have it, Jack spotted them and came running over with a grimace, “Owen” he said in greeting

“What happened?” He cut straight to the chase

“Weevil, sorry for cutting in but its an emergency” he turned to Dianne, “I’ll have him back for dessert, come on”

“Not at all, go save the world” she teased Owen, he had told her a little about what he did for a living and had become a great friend to her over the past few weeks. She knew if not for the baby she was carrying, she’d be running right after him.

Jack didn’t wait to see if Owen was following, he knew he would be and instead focused on the tracker on his wrist, “Three hundred metres on the right. Car park.” He called out over his shoulder, the sooner they finished this the sooner Owen could go back to his dinner (was it a date?) and he could get back to trying to convince Ianto to walk naked round the house.

“Jack, over there.” Owen grabbed him and pointed to the other end of the car park when a white van with a blue star-snowflake, logo on the side had pulled up. Men in black with some sort of electric taser sticks were surrounding the weevil and they didn’t look friendly.

“Hey!” Jack shouted as they bundled the Weevil into the van but they just drove away, “Who the hell were they?”

-

Back at the hub Jack was pacing around spouting off questions left right and centre as his team worked around him, “One. Since when did other people know about Weevils?” He didn’t wait for anyone to answer him as he carried on, “Two. Have they done this before and if so how come didn’t we know about it?” This time Tosh tried to answer but he steamrolled over her, “Three. What do they want with them anyway?”

Owen rolled his eyes at his boss and waved a file in front of him to get him to shut up, “Might not be connected, but we’ve noticed a surge of unusual injuries being reported at the A&E unit.”

Skimming over the information Jack knew this wasn’t going to be an easy fix, “Chunks taken out of legs and arms. Deep wounds to backs and stomachs. So we have a wave of Weevil attacks to add to our problems.” He perched on the edge of his desk, “Oh, and by the way, that spray we’ve used on them previously, looks like they’re becoming immune to it.”

“They’re mutating?” Tosh asked with morbid curiosity

“Or evolving.” Owen nodded

One problem at a time, “So any sign of the one we lost earlier? Where’s Gwen?” Jack asked

“I’ve run a trace on the van’s number plate. It’s fake. Two and a half thousand vans of that type registered in the Cardiff area. Widen that to a forty mile radius and the number doubles.” Tosh told him, “She’s on the phone to Rhys I think, letting him know she wont be home until later”

Good idea, he should probably give Ianto a call, let him know not to wait up for him, “So, run a trace on the vehicle-” Jack was interrupted

“Route via traffic cameras?” Tosh raised an eyebrow, this wasn’t her first rodeo, “Processing that now”

-

Ianto stared at his phone with irritation as it started ringing as he had yet again forgotten which button to press. Why were they so many anyway? Too bloody complicated, besides it was an unfamiliar number and Jack had told him to ignore those anyway. Instead he placed his mobile down on the bar and took a sip of his pint.

Owen had told him this was a nice place to get a drink but he wasn’t so sure, it was a bit… grungy. Then again it was his own fault he was here, nobody had forced him through the doors. He had woken up from a hellish nightmare and without Jack there to comfort him like the baby he was a pint had seemed like a great idea. He was now having second thoughts.

“Are you going to answer that?” The young barmaid asked with a smile as she walked over and Ianto smiled at her, she had reminded him of Emily a little when she introduced herself earlier. Bubbly, polite, a bright smile.

“No” Ianto wasn’t about to tell her he couldn’t remember how so he made up an excuse, “Came out tonight to be alone”

“Ah,” she nodded, “the old Greta Garbo”

“Something like that” Ianto took another sip of his pint, not understanding the reference, he would have to ask Jack later

“Little bit of advice. Next time you feel like this, you should stay in.” She told him

Ianto glance around and repressed the sigh that wanted to escape, “I think I will” maybe he shouldn’t have come out by himself but he was sick of being a burden, he had to find his feet eventually.

They were rudely interrupted before she could respond, “I said, no chatting up the punters.”

“Excuse me?” Ianto frowned at the bad-mannered man who stank of cheap alcohol

The barmaid glared daggers at the stranger, “Tommy, I work in a bar. It’s my job to speak to them”

The stranger, or rather ‘Tommy’ sneered at her “You’re never happier than when you’re flashing your tits at a passing dickhead, are you.”

All he had wanted was a quiet pint but Ianto wasn’t about to stand by as this man became violent and rude, “Don’t talk to her like that”

“You what?” Tommy snorted

“We were having a conversation” Ianto raised an eyebrow feeling particularly like an old man today, “One day, when you’ve grown up, you’ll realise that’s what human beings do.” Really he should have been expecting it when the man grabbed him by the front of his shirt and threw a punch at his face but maybe he’d been a tad over confident. Nether the less, this was hardly his first bar fight, never let it be said Ianto Jones can’t give as good as he gets.

“Tommy, stop. You’ll get me the sack!” The barmaid exclaimed, somehow sounding both concerned and righteously pissed off at the same time.

She needn’t have been worried though as Ianto quickly had Tommy subdued and bent over the bar counter. He had become a sort of expert bending larger men, or rather one specific large man, over counters after a short scuffle, “You see, it’s about using your opponent’s aggression to your own ends. Now, I’d suggest you don’t pick fights with strangers.” He turned to the barmaid and gave her some advice, “And you should really upgrade your boyfriend” 

He threw Tommy away and finished his drink, returning it to the bar as he scooped up his mobile. Time to go home, explaining these new bruises to Jack in the morning was going to be fun.


	13. Crazy Frog

Owen folded his arms as he stood in front of Janet’s holding cell, he didn’t like being down here for extended periods of time on a normal day, this new development was making him increasingly more uncomfortable, “It started ten minutes ago” he told Jack as she crouched on the floor keening at them

“What d’you think it’s doing?” Jack asked taking a closer look

Having put a lot of thought into it over the last ten minutes, Owen told him, “I think she’s weeping”

Jack took a step back looking deeply troubled, “Why?”

“I’ve been studying this one. I think they have a low level of telepathic ability to share emotion across distance.” Owen wondered if he would have to spell it out or if Jack would catch on

“You mean it might be feeling the pain of another Weevil?” Owen nodded, “I hope you’re wrong”

“Why?” The medic asked, scowling, he didn’t lie being wrong 

“Because,” it was Jacks turn to wonder if Owen was going to catch on, “that would mean somebody’s not only kidnapping Weevils, they’re causing them pain” Unable to do anything to sooth Janet, Owen followed Jack back upstairs to the hub and threw himself into his research, if Weevils did communicate telepathically maybe there was a way to trace the signal.

Tosh was waiting for them when they came up and immediately reported to Jack, “I’ve tracked the van’s route. It went straight from the car park out to the docks. This was two hours ago” she showed him the video, they watched the men get out of the van but when the side door opened the CCTV went static.

“What happened?” Jack demanded

“The CCTV cameras went down.” Tosh sounded insulted as she typed frantically at her keyboard

Rolling over from her own desk Gwen asked, “Do you think it was deliberate?”

Tosh shrugged, “I think these guys really don’t like to be watched”

“See, I know it’s a character flaw” Jack shook his head, “but that makes me all the more determined to find out what it is they’re hiding”

“We should go investigate” Gwen looked at Jack for his approval, she’d had a lot of time to think over the last few weeks, with Jack’s special treatment of her disappearing into thin air she had come to some realisations about her boss, her job and herself. She needed to tread carefully, one misstep and she could be Weevil chow. Everything had changed when Ianto Jones arrived, she wanted to hate him for stealing away Jack’s attention but it was hard, he was such a sweet guy. Kind, polite, funny, she could see why Jack liked having him around, he reminded her of Rhys but there was something going on she didn’t know about and Gwen Cooper did not like being kept out of the loop.

“Good idea” Jack nodded, “Gwen, Tosh, gear up we have a Weevil to rescue”

Even with Jack’s extremely fast driving they were too late, and extremely motion sick, “Looks like we missed them.” Gwen said as she looked around breathing in the fresh air, the place was abandoned

“Yeah, but if you quit places in a hurry, you tend to be forgetful” Jack grinned, “Come on” he strode confidently toward the warehouse and kicked the door open with his usual dramatic flair. The girls rolled their eyes in sync as they followed after him, “You know what they used these warehouses for during World War Two? Storing the bodies of dead GIs. Sometimes, you can know too much history” Jack had spent years coming to terms with what he did during the war but sometimes, even now, memories bubbled up

To their left, before either Gwen or Tosh could respond, a door slammed causing them all to jump and draw their guns, “There’s nothing here” Tosh whispered

“So what were they doing here? Why come all this way out?” Jack asked 

“Psst” Gwen got their attention and nodded toward where she had spotted a body lying in a shaft of light, “Look”

“What is it?” Tosh whispered

Jack took a few cautious steps forward with his gun held high, “Looks human. Male”

“Is he alive?” Gwen squinted at the body, she couldn’t see him moving

“Hello? You okay there?” Jack raised his voice, “We’re looking for the people who were here last night. If you saw anything, now’s a good time to speak up.” 

“Jack, he’s bleeding. Oh, my God.” Gwen lowered her weapon and rushed forward to see if there was anything she could do, “Weevil marks”

Tosh looked around wearily and asked, “You don’t think it’s still here do you?” Her gun still tight in her grip

“No. We’d hear it.” Jack calmed her, “Help me with the body Gwen”

Gwen snatched her hand back as f she had been burnt as the Crazy Frog ring tone pierced the air around them, “Is that his?” She asked

Jack looked at her incredulously, “You don’t think I’d choose that ring tone” he dug through the man’s pockets and found the phone

“Don’t answer it” Gwen squeaked as Jack did just that

“Hello?”

“I don’t know who you are, but stay out of what doesn’t concern you” a warped voice replied, clearly someone was trying to conceal there identity

“Who killed this man?” Jack demanded

The voice scoffed, “Did you hear what I just said?”

Smirking, Jack looked at his team, “I have this selective deafness when I’m talking to cowards or murderers”

The voice didn’t rise to the bait though, “Don’t interfere in things you don’t understand”

“Oh, I understand this better than you” Jack continued, all traces of humour gone as he began to monologue dramatically, “Because I know how this is going to end. We’re going to hunt you down. We’re going to ensure that you’re punished for what happened here. And we’re going to make you surrender that creature that you kidnapped. Is that clear enough?”

The voice hung up

“Was that really necessary?” Gwen sighed

Jack ignored her as he dialled Owens number into the phone, “Owen, I need you to trace all calls to and from this number in the last twenty four hours, fast as you can. We’re on our way back.”

-

Ianto smoothed down his tie as he waited for the cog door to open, he was a little late this morning and was nervous he’d be reprimanded. After he had returned home from his trip to the pub he had tried to get some sleep but had been plagued by nightmares, by the time he actually fell asleep the sun was peaking over the horizon and he’d slept through the alarm. Fortunately once he got inside the hub everyone seemed busy in the autopsy bay so he just got on with his job, the main hub could do with a bit of a clean.

“Dan Hodges. Date of birth, twenty first of January 1979. Salesman for web publishing software. Looks like he was married with a kid” Gwen was looking through the mans wallet and showed them a picture of a young boy

Owen held up the left hand which had a wedding ring on, “Yeah? No shit, Sherlock. Right, definitely death by Weevil, but he took a right kicking before the throat was punctured. Weevils go for the kill, straight for the jugular. Look at his face. Black eye, bruises to the cheekbones. Same across the back and the ribs.”

“Could he have been tortured?” Tosh asked

“Maybe,” Owen tilted his head to one side, “but I reckon these wounds were inflicted by humans. But why smack somebody about and then set the Weevil on them? Why not get the Weevil do all the work for you?”

“Any joy with the phone records?” Jack asked as his eyes followed Ianto around the main hub where he was tiding up after them

Owen shook his head, “The last incoming number was blocked, and the phone’s entire call history has been erased.”

“God, they move fast” Tosh sounded almost impressed

“You ask me, these guys are using Weevils to carry out the perfect murder. No fingerprints, no traces of recognisable DNA, a quick, guaranteed death. Nothing to connect anyone to the murder.” Jack finally dragged his eyes away from his lover and instead trained them on Dan Hodges

“Right” Owen snapped his gloves off, “Should be a piece of piss to find the killer, then”

“What about this guy? Someone’s got to break it to his wife that he’s dead” she watched the team communicate silently with their eyes before they all turned in unison to look at her, “Oh, great”


	14. Old Married Couple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I forgot to post yesterday, as a way to make up for it you can have 3 today!

When Gwen and Owen returned from informing the family they had to wait almost an hour before Jack decided to bless them with his presence, “Where have you been?” Owen frowned at him, bastard was probably having a kip in the Archives while the rest of them were chugging coffee down to keep their eyes open

“I was helping Ianto in the Archives” Jack studiously avoided Tosh’s knowing look

“Well, in your absence, Toshiko’s had a great idea” Gwen smiled, what happened next was going to give her the clues she needed to unravel the great Jones mystery

“Well, it had to happen sooner or later.” Jack teased her, smiling to let her know he was joking, “Hit me”

Tosh started, “The van went from kidnapping the Weevil straight to the warehouse. They must’ve known it was empty.”

“So either they own it or they had previous contact with the estate agents” Gwen took over as Ianto came up from the archives looking a little guilty but that was soon overridden by surprise as Gwen smiled at him brightly, “Ianto Jones, you’re going into property. Toshiko’s in the middle of fixing you a cover story”

“What?!” Jack and Ianto exclaimed at the same time, Tosh had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing and calling them an old married couple, which by the way they totally were. It was a near miracle Owen and Gwen hadn’t figured it out by now.

“Hang on. Why me?” Ianto looked at Jack for the answer, “I’m not supposed to be on active duty”

“Jack and Owen were in the car park, Gwen and I were in the warehouse. If they’ve got access to CCTV, they’ll recognise us.” Tosh laid it out clearly

Owen agreed even as Jack was silently fuming next to him, “We have to get under their guard, find out what’s going on”

“No, Ianto isn’t going. I will” Jack crossed his arms doing his best ‘I’m the boss’ stance

“They will recognise you Jack” Gwen told him, “It needs to be Ianto” why was he so protective of him? She didn’t want to see him hurt but Jack had no qualms putting them in the same situation.

“He’s not going” Jack ground out between clenched teeth

It seemed like Ianto didn’t get the memo though as he nodded slowly, this could be his way to prove himself, he thought, he could prove he belonged here still, “Yeah, all right, I’ll do it.”

“Ianto, my office” Jack spat as he turned on his heel, storming away with his coat swishing behind him, Ianto did adore that coat

“Don’t worry” he smiled at the team as they gave him worried looks, “I can handle him” better then they knew

Jack was waiting for him, pout on his lips, a frown marring his handsome features as he argued the moment the door was closed, “You’re not going, you promised me no field work when I let you stay, I don’t want to lose you.”

“You’re not going to lose me” Ianto put a hand on his shoulder, the most contact he was comfortable making in front of others just yet, he was working on it, “Jack, I survived the war, getting shot, being mauled by a Weevil to save Mrs Figgis, travelling rough the rift on a plane and getting thrown through history. Do you seriously think I will let a case take me from you? I love you, trust you with my life. Don’t you trust me Jack?”

Jack sighed, his resolve weakening, “I love you too but you’re not going”

-

“Mister Jones?” A man walked over and Ianto turned with a smile, adjusting his fake glasses he didn’t even need to be wearing and offered the man a hand to shake

“That’s me” 

Shaking his hand, the man introduced himself, “Mark Lynch. You’re looking to relocate your business to Cardiff?”

“Yeah” Ianto wandered off a little, taking in the office with fake interest

“And you export jellied eels.” Mark didn’t seem convinced, “Really?”

Bullshit mode initiate, “Huge growth market. China, South America. I’m having a nightmare trying to keep up with demand. I’ll get you a batch if you find me the right place”

Puling a disgusted face behind his clients back, Mark declined, “I think I’ll pass on that. Any family to relocate?”

Ianto froze for just a moment before swirling on his heel to answer, “No, its just me. It’s better that way.” Just him in a whole new world he was still trying to fit into.

The other man didn’t seem to sense his inner turmoil as he continued, “And you’re looking for premises out by the docks?”

Taking refuge by the windows, Ianto looked out on the city, “Mmm. Nice big warehouse, that’s what I need.”

“I’ve got a couple that should be perfect. Hang on while I print” Mark excused himself before walking off, giving Ianto the perfect opportunity to attach the gizmo Toshiko had given him to the back of the laptop. He was just glad he wasn’t expected to touch any of the keys.

She had told him it would give them everything on the hard drive, including encrypted files, she lost him when she started talking about routing protocols but Jack had nodded along so he assumed Tosh knew what she was talking about, “You’re clear” Toshiko told him through his ear communication unit and Ianto barely got the gizmo back in his pocket before Mark turned around and handed him some available properties files

“These have got the square footage you’re looking for, good access, competitively priced”

Ianto glanced through quickly and noticed the warehouse by the docks was missing, “Except these all look like hovels to me.”

Mark just smirked, “Yeah. They are a bit”

“Didn’t I see your sign outside a big place in the Q section of the docks?” Ianto raised an eyebrow

“We’ve accepted an offer on it.” Mark blustered, “Pretty much signed and sealed”

“He’s lying.” Tosh told him through coms, “According to their records, it only went on the market last week”

Ianto flashed him a smile and tilted his head to one side, “Bummer”

“What about a unit on an industrial estate?” Mark suggested, “Save a ton on rent, even after transport costs”

Ianto shook his head and took a step back, “And you just happen to have a list of suitable premises? No”

“There are other possibilities” Mark wheedled with a charming smile, “You free at the end of the day?”

Tonight he was supposed to be going to the pictures with Jack to see an action film his lover declared a staple of British culture but Torchwood came first, “Yeah”

“Why don’t we go for a drink.” Mark closed the gap between them a little, “On your own in a strange city. See, I remember that feeling.”

He didn’t know the half of it, “And look at you now.” He gestured around the office, “Couple of beautiful women answering your phones for you. If that’s not success, I don’t know what is.”

“It’s all bollocks, really.” He admitted, “But, if you wanted me to put in a good word”

“No!” Blurted before he could catch himself, “Thanks. Good to meet you, Mark.” Dammit, he’d fudged that up

“Yeah. I’ll give you a bell” Mark promised, watching Ianto leave with a predatory grin on his face


	15. Smitten

Toshiko was in her element as she executed her first class forgery, “First, he’ll go for the weblink at the top of the page, Then he’ll want to know what other people say about the business. Now he’ll see what Ianto has to say about himself.” She muttered to herself, smiling at Gwen as she came to stand by her shoulder to take a look

_“Welcome to the number one supplier of jellied eels to Britain and Northern Europe. With a client base of more than a hundred and fifty resellers, we’re constantly looking to expand into new territories. If you’re interested in becoming an affiliate or Jones’ franchise holder, please contact our Sales Director on the number below.”_ The fake Ianto on screen told them

“That’s amazing Tosh” Gwen sounded suitably impressed

“That’s not all” the techi smiled slyly as her phone rang, “Jones’ sales, Jenny Long speaking” she winked at Gwen as Mark’s voice filtered back

“Sorry, wrong number”

“Amazing” Gwen repeated herself

Tosh smiled as she turned back to her computer, “Job done” 

“I’ve tracked down another set of suspicious injuries at the hospital. They sound pretty bad.” Owen said as he walked by, stealing Jack’s attention from his phone

He was waiting for Ianto to text but he knew the other man probably needed another lesson on how to use his phone, “Tosh, stay here and monitor Mark Lynch’s movements. Owen, with me.” He’d speak to Ianto later, they could reorganise their movie date another night.

“I’ll come with you.” Gwen offered

Jack shook his head, “Go home”

“But-”

“It’s not a request” Jack reminded her who was in charge and for once she shut up and did as she was told, ever since Ianto had been returned to him Gwen seemed to be more a thorn in his side than usual. If she didn’t get with the program soon he I got have to re-evaluate her position at Torchwood.

Allowing Owen to drive for once was probably a bad idea as his driving was even more questionable than his own but Jack wanted him to be distracted so they could talk. Owen always gave more away when he was multitasking, “So, you and Dianne…?”

“What about Dianne?” Owen muttered, he should have guessed this was a trap

“She’s living with you, isn’t she?” Jack prodded, “You were having dinner before I interrupted you”

“Does it matter? I don’t go poking around in your personal life” Owen asked defensively

Jack gave him a calculating look, “Dianne is my responsibility as the leader of Torchwood, its my job to make sure she settles in and if you’re-”

“It wasn’t a date” Owen cut him off gruffly, taking a corner sharply, “We’re friends”

Jack echoed, “Friends?”

“Yes” Owen shot him a glare as he parked on the curb outside the hospital, “Problem?”

“No, no problem here” Jack smirked, friends his ass, he hadn’t seen Owen so smitten in years but then who was he to talk? Ianto had him wrapped around his little finger the moment they met in the bar all those years ago

-

Ianto didn’t like asking for help but when he returned to the hub and found Jack wasn’t there, he knew he would have to approach Toshiko, “Excuse me, sorry for bothering you Tosh. Are you busy?” He asked

“No, whats up?” Tosh leant back in her chair, “Are you worried about meeting Mark later?”

“No that’s not it… I, well this is embarrassing but I can’t remember how to use this” he showed her his phone with a pained expression, “I don’t suppose you could show me how to use it again, could you?”

Seeing that he was embarrassed, Tosh tread carefully, “Of course, I’d be happy to. Trust Jack to get you a fiddly one, that man has no sense”

“Oh I don’t know” Ianto said, handing his phone over, “He did say it was one of the new models, I’m sure he didn’t mean to confuse me”

“You’re right” Tosh agreed with him, pointing out the buttons he should use to call and answer calls. It was difficult not to be belittling as she explained something that seemed like second nature to her but she managed and by the time Ianto walked away to make coffee, she was fairly certain he understood.

Meanwhile at the hospital Owen was drawing the curtains around their victims bed, “A little privacy goes along way”

“I’ve already made my statement to the police.” The patient said quietly, not making eye contact

Jack ignored him and flicked through his chart, “According to your chart here, you nearly had your heart torn from your ribcage. Ten hour operation to repair chest wounds.”

“Ouch” Owen perched on the side of the bed, almost menacingly

“Why should I talk to you?”

Playing the game, Jack leant forward, “Let me tell you what did this to you. Six feet high, teeth like a shark, rippled skin and the rage of a wild animal.” He raised an eyebrow and settled back, “ Am I close?” 

The bandaged man looked at him with wide eyes, “I was mugged. There was three of them. They had knives.”

“So why were your wounds described by paramedics as bite marks?” Owen asked condescendingly

“Look, I can’t help it if they got mixed up. They’re overworked”

Jack let a short silence drag on before speaking again, “Well, there are lots of ways I can get you to talk, but the easiest would be if you consider the consequences should you not tell me the truth. And that is, this creature will attack again. Somebody will die. And it will be on your conscience. Now tell us the truth”

“I can’t” the man rasped, “They’d kill me”

Jack pushed, “Who’d kill you?”

The patient closed his eyes, exhausted, “Everyone”

Everyone, Jack thought to himself as he once again allowed Owen to drive the SUV back to the hub, what did he mean everyone? They hadn’t been able to get anything else out of him and Jack really didn’t want to try and force him, torture wasn’t really his thing anymore and the poor guy had been through enough already. He had an idea anyway, it was risky, immoral and if it failed incredibly dangerous.

All the makings of a ‘Jack Harkness’ plan. Looks like Janet was going for a little trip out.


	16. Failing Plans

The plan was simple, Jack wanted to release Janet in the same place their Weevil-Nappers had taken the last one and follow once they took the bait, however there was one small problem. His team had decided to argue with him about morals, “You can’t be serious” Tosh asked as he drove into the city centre, “You want to release a Weevil in the middle of Cardiff?” 

“Not exactly in the middle” Jack said as if that made it any better, “A little to the side. We’ve placed a tracker in her boiler suit, so when they capture her, we’ll know where they are.”

Tosh still wasn’t on board though, maybe he should have left her at the hub, “It could kill any number of people before then”

She had even managed to sway Owen onto her side if thinking, “I’m with Tosh. No telling what may happen”

They were wasting time, “We set it loose in the same place where they took the other one” Jack argued as he turned a sharp corner, “It’s deserted this time of night. We’ll be with it every step of the way.”

He could feel the displeasure and judgment radiating off his team but now was not the time, it was this way or more people would get mauled. The longer they waited the more people would get hurt, “Toshiko are you ready with the tracker?” He asked as he pulled over and got ready to disengage the locking system on the boot

“Yes” she said, sounding pissed off but willing to do as he ordered

“Here we go then” Jack unlocked the boot and watched as Janet exploded out of her cage, “Tracker working?”

Tosh nodded, repeating herself, “Yes” and then the chase began, they followed her closely through back streets and Jack was forced to break several traffic laws in his pursuit. Ianto could handle the tickets for him later, he was good like that, “Second right, two hundred metres ahead” Tosh read off her PDA before cursing and telling him Janet had turned down a side street, pedestrian access only. 

“Argh. Owen, take over” Jack ordered, flying out of the car after her with Tosh hot on his heels

Okay, maybe this hadn’t been his best plan.

All the while this high speed chase was in pursuit, Ianto was sat in a familiar bar waiting for his target to return with their drinks, Jack had told him to dress down but Ianto stubbornly refused to go out wearing anything less formal than his suit trousers and shirt with the top button undone. He had felt quite pleased with himself when Mark turned up in similar attire, obviously only having just gotten off from work.

“Now that’s what I call service. Cheers.” Ianto smiled as Mark returned with drinks

Mark grinned back and clinked their pint glasses together, “Yeah, cheers”

“So, come here often?” Ianto asked after a short period of silence

He was a little confused when Mark chuckled but figuring he’d just accidentally quoted something when he nodded knowingly with a wink, “Something like that. Where are you staying at the moment?”

“Hotel” Ianto rolled his eyes, “Waiting for the sodding paperwork to go through so I can move into my new place by the bay, quite the view”

“Yeah” Mark looked him up and down as he took a long drink of his pint, “I’m inclined to agree”

Perhaps it was for the best Ianto didn’t get the chance to respond as he spotted the guy he’d scuffled with last time he was here over Marks shoulder, “Shit” he kicked himself as Tommy and two other men came over, he was about to blow his cover

“We got a problem here, boys?” Mark glanced between them with a clear hint of warning in his tone

“Not with you.” Tommy grunted, “We’re here to teach this one a lesson, right boys?” 

His henchman grunted in agreement and Ianto had to make a decision, he could either try to diffuse the situation which was pretty unlikely or get into another bar fight in which he would be greatly outnumbered, “Come on then,” he sighed, taking one last sip of his pint, “let’s get it over with”

Tommy threw the first punch but Ianto was ready for it, ducking under it and sweeping the mans legs from under him in one fluid movement. He had to admit that worked better than he’d planned and he felt quite cool doing it but his pride was short lived as Tommy dragged him down too and snarled at Mark, “No need for you to get involved, sweetheart. This ones mine” Like fuck he is, “Get up” 

The manager came rushing over with a scowl as Ianto got back up on his feet, “Problem gentleman?”

Ianto shook his head, “No, he was just leaving”

“I 'aint finished with you” Tommy growled

“Out, the lot of you” the manager interrupted.

“Like fuck I will, bloody nancy boys trying to tell me what to do,” Tommy sneered at Mark and Ianto, “Bloody shirt lifters-”

To Marks and the managers utter astonishment, Ianto floored the guy with a punch to the nose. A loud crack signalled that Ianto had indeed broken it and the guy didn't move, staring up at Ianto in anger, holding his bleeding nose.

“Now fuck off!” Ianto growled, trying not to let on just how badly that had hurt his hand as Mark grabbed his mates by the scruff of their necks and threw them out. That hadn’t gone according to plan.

The rest of the teams plan wasn’t going great either, after following the weevil and letting it get captured Jack had somehow lost the trail, “So where is it, Tosh?” He asked, confused as he looked around the empty ally. There were no backdoors, fire escapes or even sewer grates

“Jack” Tosh sighed as she pointed to the tracker they had pinned on Janet and a piece of cloth which were caught on a chain link fence, “We lost her”

Owen swore under his breath and kicked some random litter, “So what have we got now?”

“Nothing” Jack grit out between his teeth, “We have no clue where they are or what they’re doing”

-

“I’m in the wrong business” Ianto whistled as he looked around Marks place, lots of white and stainless steel, very masculine. As much as he was supposed to hate Mark for his part in the Weevil-snatchings, he did admire his taste in décor. Ianto mentally rolled his eyes at himself as he thought that, way to go Jones you’re officially gayer.

Mark had invited him round after they had been thrown out of the pub and Ianto had readily agreed, anything to get more information out of him, “So, what’s your outlet?” Mark asked as he suddenly started to get undressed

Ianto thought it was strange he had decided to chance his shirt in for the of a stranger but Jack did say that people were a lot less self conscious these days, maybe it was a totally normal thing to do, “For what?”

Mark smirked, “The anger”

“Who said I was angry?” Ianto didn’t miss a beat, taking a seat on the long white sofa when Mark gestured for him to

“You’re not even living here yet and you’ve got people coming after you.” He said, sitting a little too close for Ianto’s liking

“Yeah, well, some people need teaching a lesson.” He said awkwardly

Mark continued to smirk as he held his hand up in mock surrender, “I’m not criticising. You’re not the only pissed off bloke out there. It’s what the world does to us. Fancy a beer?”

“Yeah, why not.”

“You work yourself stupid” Mark told him as he wandered into the kitchen, “Get a house, a car, plasma screen, You end up with a workforce. People there specifically to look after your every whim. You’re officially successful. And what does it bring? Nothing. Success has no worth other than itself. Seriously, I could live without all this. It doesn’t define me.”

Accepting the beer, Ianto thought about the days when it felt like he would never be warm again, the days when he was eating ration packs and drinking hot sludge which claimed to be ‘coffee’, this guy was talking out of his arse, “I suppose. Nice to have it, though, yeah?”

Mark ignored him though as he retook his seat and leant forward so he was in Ianto’s personal space, “Ask yourself, what’s the point of your life?”

“Mark, mate” Ianto laughed uncomfortably as he scooted ack a bit, “I only came here for a beer”

“There’s so much more, if you know where to look” Mark leered at him and Ianto started to get the sense he was missing something

“Is that right?”

-

Rhys was watching is girlfriend play with her food across the table, she had been staring at her plate in her own little world for almost ten minutes now and he couldn’t decide if he was annoyed she wasn’t talking to him on her one bleeding night off a month or concerned something was troubling her, “Gwen? Everything alright love?”

“Hmm? What?” She looked up with wide eyes before she shook her head with a smile, “Sorry love, I was just trying to figure something out.” She looked back down at her plate again and ate a mouthful of the dinner he had made special, her favourite, “lasagne’s good”

“I only ask because you’ve nearly spoken a word, that’s all” Rhys poured her another glass of wine, “Anything I can help with?”

“No love, thanks but its… it’s a work thing” Gwen knew her boyfriend hated these four little words but it was true, she was thinking about work or more specifically her boss. Jack had been acting strange ever since that plane came through the rift, she was missing something and she didn’t like it. Jack used to confide in her, talk to her, flirt with her but now Ianto was here she had been pushed aside, abandoned like a broken toy and she hated it. Jack had confessed his immortality to her, he trusted her but now he was pushing her away and it was all because of Ianto Jones.

She didn’t know how or why he was doing it but she was sure he was manipulating Jack, he had to be.

“Oh” Rhys sighed as he drank his own wine, “Never mind then”

Seeing the disappointed look on his face, Gwen felt a pang of guilt, here she was thinking about her boss when she had her wonderful boyfriend sat right in front of her. It was all too easy to get swept away with her fantasies about Jack but at the end of the day he had ignored her for weeks at a time while Rhys worshiped the ground she stepped on, “Its my boss,” she told him, “He’s playing favourites with a new colleague of mine”

“Is he?” Rhys asked, surprised she had told him even that, “Have you asked anyone else what they think? If you all agree you could confront him”

That wasn’t a terrible idea but she would have to get Tosh and Owen on board first, “I-I hadn’t thought to do that, thanks love”

“No problem,” Rhys puffed his chest out a little, “Glad I could help, why don’t-” he was interrupted as his phone went off, “Sorry, its Daff” he told her as he answered it

Gwen half listened to his conversation as she continued to eat her rapidly cooling dinner, surprised when he got to his feet after hanging up, “Whats wrong?”

“Daff’s got himself locked up” Rhys shook his head with disappointment, “I’ve got to go bail him out”

“Tonight? Right now?”

“Yeah, sorry love, I’ll make it up to you I promise” Rhys pressed a kiss to her cheek and hurried out of the door, leaving Gwen sat by herself wondering what had just happened.


	17. Best Friends Forever

Ianto’s as now 100% certain he had missed some sort of social cue as Mark turned on some music and handed him his second beer, this felt very much like how Jack would flirt with him some evenings and he wasn’t comfortable with it, “Mark, uh, what are we doing?” He didn’t want to blow his cover but he was out of his depth here

“I think you know” Mark smirked as he slid even closer and Ianto knew he had to make a decision right that second on how he was going to play this, “You know where the door is if you don’t want this”

Ianto swallowed past the lump in his throat and got to his feet, walking over to the entrance near the stairs, “Perhaps we should take this upstairs?”

Mark’s grin widened as he quickly got up, “Good boy” he slid an arm around his waist and lead him upstairs

“Um,” Ianto put a hand on his arm, “Bathroom?”

“Just through there” Mark nodded at a door down the hall and put his hand on the handle closest to him, “I’ll be waiting in here”

Smiling awkwardly, Ianto nodded and walked down the hall. There had to be something up here that could give him a lead. He was ready to just leg it and abort the mission when he came across a padlocked door, bingo!

Jack had been teaching him how to pick locks for reasons as yet unknown so it barely took anytime at all for him to get the padlock off, ducking into the room Ianto was appalled at the mess. It looked like Mark had just filled it with junk he didn’t have room for downstairs but that’s not what had Ianto on edge, well it was but there was another more creepy reason. Something was rattling just out of sight, it sounded like chains but why would Mark have something chained up in his junk room?

It was times like these that Ianto wished Jack had permitted him to carry a fire arm, he knew how to use them but all his lover had authorised him to use was a bloody stun gun. Still, Ianto thought as he pulled it out and inched forward into the room, it was better than nothing. 

What he needed was a light, it was too dark to see. Feeling around the walls, Ianto’s fingers caught on the switch which he flicked on without a second though, lighting the room up to reveal something that had plagued Ianto’s nightmares for years.

A Weevil, three feet in front of him.

It was like he was right back to that fateful Monday afternoon, he could see Mrs Figgis emptying her bins, the beast diving at her, standing in front of it. Those teeth, those terrible razor sharp teeth ripping into his shoulder. The pain, the blood, feeling like that was the end. He felt like he was dying all over again, unable to breathe as fear gripped him.

“Told you there was more to see” Ianto’s heart stopped, his gut dropped and he was fairly certain he let out a terrified squeak as he turned around to see Mark, yet again without a shirt, casually leaning against the wall 

Eyes darting back and forth between Mark and the Weevil, Ianto finally spotted the chains hanging from the ceiling, wrapped around the Weevils wrists, holding it up, “Now, Mark” Ianto said slightly breathless as he tried to calm the fuck down, “I’m really sorry. I couldn’t resist the padlock.”

Mark didn’t seem to care though, “What do you think?”

How much did he know? Ianto didn’t want to give anything away, “What is it?”

“No idea” He pushed off the wall and took a step forward, “Don’t get too close, though” he ignored his own warning, invading the Weevils personal space, “Vicious bastard”

“Where did you get it from?” Ianto asked, did Mark even know what he had locked up in here?

“I found one on the streets” he boasted, “It took five of us to bring it in. Other than that, haven’t got a clue. Scientific experiment gone wrong? Nuclear victim? One of the lads even reckons it’s an alien. You want to know what I think?”

Ianto nodded, trying not to finch as the Weevil strained against its chains, “Yeah. Go on.”

“I think it’s us, Ianto. You and me in a thousand years’ time. This is what we become when all we have left is our rage.”

Licking his lips nervously, Ianto cocked his head to one side, “Not exactly a comforting thought.”

Mark snorted, “Give it a smack.”

“Excuse me?” Ianto snapped breaking out of character but luckily Mark didn’t seem to notice his anger

“Punch it” he said with a lot less patience, “That’s what it’s there for. Or do you want me to do it for you?”

“It can’t exactly put up much of a fight,” Ianto put his hands in his pockets, “I prefer my opponents more equally matched, never heard of the saying pick on someone your own size?”

“Oh, it’s a fight you want?” Mark laughed, “I can give you a fight, come on”

-

With nothing else to do, Gwen had found her way back to the hub. She had brought pizza for the team but when the cog door rolled back they weren’t there, “Hello? Anyone?” It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, “Great” she sighed to herself as she looked around.

They had to be back soon right? They were probably just on a retrieval, she told herself trying not to feel left out, she was being ridiculous. Maybe this was the universes way of getting back on her for cancelling on Rhys so many times in the past, she really should listen to Jack more, she couldn’t let it drift. Rhys was her only slice of normality left after all. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to get Jack to put Ianto on hub duties only, if they had another agent in the field it would mean a lighter load for the rest of them. More nights off, more time with Rhys. 

But of course she had let her jealousy of their sudden friendship rule her actions, she never had been very good at sharing. It drove Rhys barmy.

With a sigh she sat down on the uncomfortable hub sofa that might be older than even Jack… older than Jack. Gasping, she sat up straight and followed that train of thought, Jack had been around in the fifties, it was entirely possible that he had _known_ Ianto. 

How could she have missed this? It was so obvious. The answer had been right under his nose this entire time.

Jack was Ianto’s best friend!

It made so much sense, all that time he spent with him in the archives they were talking about the good old days, the reason Ianto was staying with him, Jack was letting his long lost friend sleep in his spare room. And the constant smiling at each other? They had inside jokes! Oh she couldn’t wait to tell Jack when she saw him, he didn’t need to worry about them finding out and accusing him of favouritism anymore. As long as he recognised her for the genius she so obviously was, maybe she could even befriend Ianto, that would defiantly help her case. Jack would see that she could be trusted, confided in and everything would go back to normal.

-

For obvious reasons, Ianto’s was hesitant to get in Mark’s car with him, for one the man had a chained up weevil in his spare room, he also hadn’t told him where they were going and on top of that he had also tried to sleep with him. Still, he needed as much intel as he could gather, he needed to prove he could handle himself, this new world hadn’t beaten him.

So there they were, watching a white van in silence, “So, what am I supposed to be looking at?” Ianto asked nervously 

Mark just tapped his nose smugly, “Wait and see”

Ianto resisted the urge to huff as he continued to look out of the window, soon enough a man walked past, then a couple more, then a lot more, “All this lot with you? What’s going on?” Ianto asked, losing his patience

Mark must like pushing his buttons though as he answers mysteriously again, “You’ll find out.”

“I’ve never been that keen on surprises” Ianto grumbled, ignoring the laughter it invoked from Mark as he followed him out of the car.


	18. Help Him

Gwen had been chowing down on some pizza feeling very proud of herself for solving the great Jones mystery when she heard a phone go off, thinking it was Rhys she checked her messages but saw it wasn’t _her_ phone that had gone off. Almost as if they had a mind of their own, Gwen’s eyes immediately flickered down to the autopsy bay, surely not.

Pulling herself up from the sofa, Gwen dragged her feet down the stairs and argued with herself about weather or not she should check Dan’s phone. She didn’t want to be disrespectful and he was laying right there, _‘He’s dead, he doesn’t care’_ a voice that sounded spookily like Owen told her

Listening to it, she took Dan’s phone out of the evidence bag and read the message, at first it didn’t make sense but after reading it a few times she got an idea and went back to Toshiko’s computer to type the code in.

“Jack I-” she reached up to her ear before realising she didn’t have an earpiece in. Eventually she found one buried under the mess known as Owens desk and congratulated herself as she put it in, “Oh yes. Jack, can you hear me?”

Jack answered her immediately but he didn’t sound happy with her, “What the hell are you doing there? I told you to go home.”

“There’s a text message that’s just come through on Dan Hodges’ phone.” She ignored his question, not wanting to let him down knowing that she was letting thing slip a little, “Charlie Foxtrot One Zero Six Bravo Yankee. Seems to be a postcode for a building. One that has a Lynch Frost sign outside”

“Okay, I’ve got the location.” Tosh came onto coms

Jack didn’t waste a second, “Gwen, we’ll pick you up on the way”

“People get a text message and they head to a property?” Owen asked, slowly piecing it together

Tosh added, “A property Mark Lynch knows is empty”

“So,” Jack said as he changed direction, “the question is what happens when they get there?”

-

“What the hell’s going on here?” Ianto asked as he stepped inside the abandoned building to find men brawling like animals

“Warm up” Mark said like it was the most obvious thing in the wold, punching someone as he walked by with a dark laugh

Ducking a punch of his own, Ianto hurried to keep up with Mark as men fought violently all around him, “Warm up? Who are these people?”

“Same as us. Ordinary blokes just trying to find meaning in a world that doesn’t have any. You wanted a fight, I’ve brought you to he most extreme fight there is”

Ianto felt sick as he looked around, all these people fighting for absolutely no reason, “You don’t really believe that, do you?” He was insane, he had to be

“We’re the dispossessed now, Ianto” Mark preached, “All the certainties our fathers had are gone. We’re a generation of no faith. In society, in religion, or in life. All we can do is reduce ourselves to the basics. This is only the warm up”

He couldn’t be right, Ianto though desperately to himself, he was insane. This generation had to have faith, a reason to live because he had fought for it dammit. He and countless other men, women and children had suffered so the next generation didn’t have to. He had risked his life countless times for these people and here they were trying to destroy each other for no other reason than they were bored. 

“Come on. You coming or staying?” Mark asked and Ianto could only follow as he led him into the main hall

“FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!” The place erupted into cheers around him and Ianto looked down in horror. There was a huge metal cage proudly displayed in the middle of the room, but it was what it contained that made Ianto’s blood run cold. 

A man was running around frantically as a Weevil chased after him with fury, the crowd were roaring encouragement and for the second time that evening Ianto realised just how out of his depth he was, “Get me out” the man shouted and Ianto was relieved yet surprised when he was let out. So if they weren’t locking people up to kill them, what were they doing?

“Nice one, mate!” Mark cheered before turning to Ianto to finally explain, “Costs a grand to enter the cage. Whoever stays in the longest across the night takes home all the money”

“So these people are paying to put their lives at risk?” Ianto asked unbelievingly

“Yeah. The ultimate extreme sport. Too much disposable income, not enough meaning. That’s us” Mark winked as he lead him through to a more private room 

Ianto pinned him with an unimpressed look, “Has anyone ever died?”

“Once” Mark admitted but the most off putting thing about it was how he said it, like he actually felt sorry about it, “His name was Dan Hodges, he wouldn’t come out. Just stood in the middle of the cage and let it maul him. I think he got in there and he realised, he didn’t want to live enough. He surrendered. None of us could get to him in time.”

“And still you all come back.” Ianto shook his head

“Well, what else is there?” Mark snapped at him, squaring up to him

Ianto pushed him back and growled, “This has to stop. More people are gonna die.”

“Oh yeah? And who’s gonna stop me? You?” Mark laughed, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and slamming him against the wall, “How long are we going to keep playing this game, Ianto? You tease, you flirt, you sweet talk, but you are hiding, Ianto.” He leant in close, so close their noses were touching, “Get in the cage”

“No” Ianto grit his teeth, struggling in his grip, he couldn’t believe he’d let him get the upper hand

Mark smirked at his struggling, “Yes” without warning he ducked forward and smashed his lips against Ianto’s. Momentarily frozen, Ianto didn’t respond until Mark pulled away wearing an extremely satisfied grin but when he did he definitely caught him out by surprise, he never saw the head-but coming, “Fuck” he hissed as he stumbled back

Unfortunately for Ianto, he wasn’t expecting Mark to pull a gun, “Get in the cage”

“Not if you’re going to point a gun at me” he spat, wiping his mouth like a child afraid of cooties

“Do you want me to shoot you?” Mark snarled, eyes flashing with fury

“Lower the gun, and then I will get into the cage” Ianto growled back, walking right up to him, his hand was shaking, his finger wasn’t even on the trigger. He put his hand over Marks and lowered the gun, “Good boy”

-

Jack worried his bottom lip as he picked Gwen up from the hub, he checked his phone for the sixth time that minute but just like all five previous times, there was no word from Ianto. He was supposed to check in every hour, it had been two and a half since he had last heard form him, “Tosh, can you trace Ianto’s phone?” He asked as Gwen slipped into the back seat next to her

“Sure thing” she smiled at him, his worry was cute but Ianto was due a check in

Telling himself to focus on driving, Jack put his phone back in his pocket and tuned out the childish bickering that had already broken out between Owen and Gwen. Ianto would be fine, he was fairly certain, he could handle himself, “Anything yet Tosh?”

“Um,” Tosh double checked the location pinging on her screen, “My programme is telling me he’s at the abandoned building we’re heading to now”

“Ianto’s there?!” Jack felt his heart skip a beat, whatever they were doing with the weevils can’t be good but if Ianto was caught in the crossfire… If one hair on his head was harmed whoever was responsible would wish they were never born, he wouldn’t kill them, no, death would be too kind a punishment.

-

Back in the arena Ianto was rolling up his sleeves, trying to find an escape route, “What’s the longest anyone’s been in there?” If he could get a message to Jack, maybe he could bring the team and-

“That’d be Dan Hodges. When you get in there, when you’re up close with it, take a look into its eyes” Mark told him, “It’s like looking into the darkest recesses of your own soul.”

“You know what Mark?” Ianto asked as the door to the cage was opened, “Has anyone ever told you, you’re a right bundle of laughs” Mark just sniggered at him before shoving him inside

It was like something out of his worst nightmares, Ianto though as he tried to keep as much distance between the Weevil and him, those sharp claws, the bloodied mussel. The crowed cheered as it lunged at him time after time, eventually catching him on the arm as he tried to dodge out of the way, lading funny on that damn leg which of course gave out under him, sending him plummeting towards the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the weevil was on top of him, the only thing between its snapping jaws and his face was his grip on its collar. Somehow he managed to roll out from underneath it and scrambled to his feet, panting, “Come on then” he croaked as it chased after him.

He would swear until his dying day that his life flashed before his eyes in that moment. The good, meeting Jack, laughing with Lisa, coming home from the war. The bad, arguing, losing his house, getting into brawls as a young boy. And the honest to god bloody unbelievable, Torchwood, flying through time, microwaves and inappropriate coloured television.

But it didn’t last long, soon all thoughts fizzled down to one thing, Jackson.

He was the one person on his mind as he felt the Weevils jaws clamping down on his arm, everything else disappeared as he realised what was happening. He was going to die in this stupid cage and leave Jack all over again. Ianto hated himself in that moment, he had wasted his second chance, he had let fear dictate his actions and kept his love a secret when he should have been shouting it from the rooftops and showering his lover in the affection he couldn’t previously show.

He must be close, Ianto thought as everything went cold, his ears were ringing and his vision was dimming. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a fuzzy version of Jack’s face looking down on him, “I’m sorry” he whispered before letting the blackness consume him.

-

“Ianto! Open the door! Jack!” Gwen shouted as they raided the building, Ianto was laying on the ground in the cage with a weevil snacking on his arm

Jack felt his heart stop as he realised what was happening, “No” he whispered before a scarlet rage flashed through his eyes. He didn’t remember shooting the Weevil, or the man guarding the door, or the other man who might have even been trying to help. His first and only priority was getting in and saving Ianto’s life

By the time he got to him though, he feared it was too late. Ianto was pale and covered in blood, his arm was a mess and he was barely breathing, “I’m sorry” he whispered and Jack lost his last shred of sense. Ianto Jones wasn’t going to die, not on his watch

“Owen!” He screamed, holding Ianto’s unconscious body to his chest, not dead, he couldn’t be dead, he wouldn’t let him be dead, “Owen help him, help him right now”

“Jack,” Owen approached him fearfully, he looked like he’d lost it, “I can’t do anything here, we have to get him back to the hub”

“ _Help him_ ” Jack wasn’t really taking it in, clearly in shock as he cried, “ _Please, help him_ ”

It was a sobering moment as Owen rushed them back into the SUV while Gwen and Tosh handed the Weevil fight slub situation. He had never really seen Jack show any emotion, let alone sob like his heart was broken. He kept an eye on them in the backseat as he raced back to the Hub, it was closer than the hospital, the way Jack was stroking his hair, the way he was cradling his body, Owen realised that he had missed something. There was clearly something between the two men. Sweating, Owen just prayed he’d be able to save Ianto, he did not want to be the one to give him bad news.


	19. Caveman

What came after life was one of the great mysteries of the universe, some people believed you were reborn after death, other believed in white pearly gates and a select few even believed you stayed where you were but as a ghost, haunting the surrounding area of where you died. Ianto had always hoped there was something after death, anything would be preferable to nothing right? Wrong, at least he thought he was dead. Maybe he wasn’t, if he was dead he shouldn’t be able to think if there really was nothing. Great, now he’s confused and possibly dead.

Confused, possibly dead and surrounded by darkness. Never ending darkness that somehow managed to make him feel claustrophobic and like a spec of dust in a vast quantity of nothingness. If this was life after death then he didn’t really like it, he’d much prefer the pearly gates. 

It was strange, he didn’t exactly feel like he had a body but the sensation of his stomach dropping as air was ripped from his lungs spread through him like wildfire and before he knew it he was opening his eyes to see a bright light. Great, he thought, the pearly gates but as his senses came back to him he realised that no, he wasn’t dead. Instead he was in a great deal of pain surrounded by bright lights and loud noises.

Anything was preferable to the darkness though.

Eventually a voice filtered through the harsh sounds, a voice he cherished above all overs, “Ianto, you’re going to be okay. Don’t panic, I’m here”

Blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, Ianto finally managed to identify the blurry blue mass in front of him as Jack, “J-” he tried to talk but ended up nearly coughing up a lung which in turn jarred his arm which screamed at him in protest. Oh yeah, the weevil, damn.

“Don’t try and talk” the blue blob Jack told him as he ran a hand through his hair, “You’re banged up pretty bad”

“Move out of the way Harkness” a new voice interrupted them and with it came a matching white blob which looked more and more like Owen the more he blinked. Good to know his eyesight was coming back to him, he would hate to be blind, “Here, give him a drink”

The next thing Ianto knew a cup of water was pressed to his lips and Jack was crooning at him like he was a babe, if he didn’t feel so weak he would have batted the cup away but a drink did sound good so instead he settled for trying to glare at the fuzzy outline of his lover.

Jack of course though he was adorable in his dazed state and let out a watery chuckle instead of a fearful gasp like he should have done, “Drink up” Jack was just glad he was awake, Owen had told him Ianto had lost a lot of blood, he was on deaths door but his medic had dragged him back. A bonus was definitely in order, and a pass to be late for the next week, Owen had saved Ianto’s life and was owed a debt Jack could never even hope to repay.

“Is he awake?” Tosh asked as she rushed over with Gwen on her heels, relieved to see a slightly groggy, half undressed Ianto sat up on the table drinking slowly from a cup, “Thank god” Jack had been in pieces when she and Gwen got back from clean up, she didn’t even want to imagine how he would have reacted if… things hadn’t worked out.

“Is he going to be okay?” Gwen worried her lip

Owen checked his results, “Yeah, he’s going to need time off to recover and surgery on the arm though. Weevil gnawed right through the bone, he’ll need metal plates and a cast for around two months” he turned to Jack and noted his horrified expression, who knew his boss could be so emotional, “I have some tech that can reduce the scarring”

“Battle wounds are suppose to be attractive” Ianto surprised them all as he croaked, “Jack?”

“I’m right here” Jack held him as tightly as he dared around the shoulders, watching as Ianto assessed the situation. Ianto sized up his options as he looked around the room at the team, remembering all too well the regrets he’d had when he thought he was about to die. It was time to stop being scared and not only accept himself but the place Jack held in his heart, “What d-” 

The team watched with shock, completely and utterly captivated as Ianto used his good arm to grab a handful of Jack’s shirt, which was covered in his own blood, and pull him forward so he could lay one on him. Jack, almost surprised as the rest of them, took a second before he realised what was happening but once he did he held nothing back, welcoming Ianto’s questing tongue with enthusiasm as he ran a hand through his hair almost desperately.

Tosh couldn’t take her eyes off the two lovers as they shared a passionate kiss, there was something heart-wrenchingly beautiful about it. She knew Jack loved this man with his entire being but to see that love displayed right in front of her, raw and pure, it was bewitching.

Owen on the other hand thought it was a little gross, not because they were both men or because they were in love but because one of them was covered in blood and the other was trying to eat his face. Jack’s reaction did make more sense now, though Owen began to wonder how long this had been going on and how he’d missed it. They clearly had practice playing tonsil tennis if this display was anything to go by but for how long? He really hoped Jack hadn’t taken advantage when Ianto first came through the rift, they both deserved better than an office rebound. 

And Gwen… Gwen was shocked. Like her brain just switched off as what she was watching simply did not compute. Jack. Kissing Ianto. What?! It didn’t make any sense! Why were they kissing? They were supposed to be best friends and she sure as hell didn’t celebrate her friends good health by snogging them breathless in front of their colleagues. And Ianto was from the fifties, wasn’t this sort of stuff illegal back then, frowned upon and stuff?

“I love you” Ianto panted as they eventually had to part for air, his eyes glued to Jack, “I love you and I’m so sorry”

“Shh” Jack shushed him, pressing butterfly kisses to his nose and cheeks, “I’ve got you”

Owen, Tosh and Gwen all stared at each other in varying degrees of shock and discomfort, having a silent conversation before Owen bit the bullet and interrupted with a pointed cough, “If you have finished trying to eat Ianto’s tongue Jack, I need to examine my patient”

“I will never be finished trying to do that” Jack shot back without missing a beat, beaming at Ianto as he let out a nervous chuckle, it was weak but it was a laugh. Once again looking around the room at his teammates faces, Ianto fought his fight or flight response as he waited for them to pass judgement on what they had just seen.

Usurpingly Toshiko was the first to come forward and place a gentle hand on Ianto’s good shoulder, “I’m glad you are okay”

“I’m sorry” Gwen shook her head, still in shock, “Is no one going to address the elephant in the room?”

“Gwen” Tosh warned but the ex Pc steamrolled right over her

“It’s really not appropriate, for one Ianto is injured and clearly not in the right frame of mind and besides Jack shouldn’t take advantage of his best friend when he’s hurt. Ianto was married, he’s from the fifties, being gay was a crime back then, I though he was homophobic” Gwen rambled as she struggled to wrap her mind around the concept, if Jack was secretly seeing Ianto why hadn’t he told her? He used to tell her everything.

“You thought I was homophobic?” Ianto asked, baffled, “Because I came from the fifties?”

Blushing now, Gwen shrugged, “I thought everyone was”

“No, they weren’t” Jack told her, “That’s like saying everyone alive today is accepting because it’s not illegal”

“Well how was I to know?” She threw her arms up, “I wasn’t alive then”

“Getting back on topic” Owen knew he shouldn’t ask, he really shouldn’t but he was this far down the rabbit hole anyway, might as well get a few answers, “This,” he gestured between Jack and Ianto, “is what exactly?” Oh god, he just hoped he wasn’t staring down the barrel of giving Ianto a sex-ed talk.

Looking to Ianto to make sure he was happy to tell them even though he had just kissed him, Jack received a small nod of consent and jumped right in, “Ianto is my soulmate” fast and sharp, like a bandaid, “We met in the late thirties, he went missing on the sky gypse and I found him again when he Dianne and Emma came through the rift”

“Hang on,” Owen clearly didn’t believe a word of it, “How the hell did you meet him in the thirties?”

“I’m not the only one who traveled through time” Ianto spoke up as Jack went quiet, he knew his lover was stingy with the immortality secret, “I was just as surprised as Jack when I found him here as he was that I arrived”

“I told you the story” Jack said defensively as Owen and Gwen gave him doubtful looks, “When Tosh wore the alien pendant and heard my thoughts, I told you all I was thinking about him”

“The gay bloke who got married to a lesbian so she could secretly sleep with your wife while you slept with him?” Owen recalled as he crossed his arms, “Come off it... I though that was just some bollocks you told us so we wouldn’t ask what you were really depressed about”

“What?” Jack felt his eyes go wide as he looked around at his team, he had shared a tender, precious memory with them and they thought he was making it up?

“You do have to admit it’s a bit of a stretch” Gwen agreed while Tosh kicked herself for not piecing it together sooner but really with all the tall tales their boss told them it was only reasonable that they believed most of them works of pure fiction, “It sounds like a fairytale”

“Well its true!” Jack felt extremely put out that they didn’t believe him, “Ianto, tell them”

But Ianto was preoccupied looking at his bandaged arm and more importantly naked chest, “Where are my clothes?”

“They were destroyed” Jack told him, grabbing a blanket to drape over him as he did, knowing Ianto would most likely be very self conscious being undressed in front of everyone, “I’ll buy you new stuff”

“But why didn’t you tell us?” Gwen asked in near tears, “When he came back, you could have said” she had thought of Jack as her friend at the very least but now it became startlingly obvious to her that he didn’t trust her at all. Maybe he never had

“It was personal” Jack cleared his throat, “I don’t see why any of you needed to know.”

Honestly, Owen thought to himself, I’m not trying to be a dick but someone needs to point it out, “We kind of did, no listen” he held his hands up when Jack glared at him, “You were compromised today because he was hurt, you abandoned Gwen and Tosh in the field, you shot two civilians and killed a Weevil. If this… thing between you two is serious you need to keep it out of Torchwood, we can’t have our leader compromised”

“What do you mean out of Torchwood? You expect me to just stop loving him during office hours?” Jack snorted, “Believe it or not Owen I am quite capable of controlling my emotions”

“Our personal relationship will not effect our overall work performance, it never has” Ianto insisted as he forced himself to meet the teams eyes instead of curling up in a ball like he wanted to, “Besides, I’m not a field agent”

“I think today proved you are” Owen argued

“I was thinking…” Gwen saw an opportunity to share her brand new idea, “If we had more field agents we could all have more time off”

But Jack didn’t want to hear it, “Ianto is never going back into the field!” He clung to him a little tighter, “I almost lost him for the second time and that will never happen again”

“You can’t keep him locked up in the hub” Gwen shot back but Ianto soon put an end to their disagreement

“Don’t you get it? I don’t want to be in the field, I hated almost every moment of it. I’m perfectly content working in the Archives, not everyone wants a piece of the action. I didn’t enjoy going for a drink with Mark and the bar fight that followed, nor did I enjoy sneaking around his house, or being tossed into a cage with a weevil or being kissed like I was some-”

“He kissed you?!” Jack interrupted with a scowl

He was getting to his feet to go find the man and smash his face into a pulp when Ianto put a calming hand on his shoulder and held him still, “Easy there caveman”

Taking a deep breath, Jack calmed down a little and took stock of the situation, “Owen, I want you to oversee Ianto’s medical care. Book him in for the operation to mend his arm, there’s more of my blood in the stocks if he needs anymore” they had never gotten around to acquiring some of Ianto’s blood type but luckily Jack still had some left and his had worked just fine in the past, “Gwen, I want you to deal with the surviving members of the fight club and Tosh can you start writing up the report for me? The sooner we tie up the loose ends the better”

“And what are you going to do?” Gwen asked as Jack pulled on his coat

“I have an errand to run” it was time to bring Janet home, he just prayed that she was okay, it was his fault they’d lost her in the first place.

-

Sometime later, once Owen had patched Ianto up pretty good and booked him in for his surgery at the hospital, Jack returned and took him home for ‘rest an recovery’ which in other words was just his excuse to pry every little detail of the mission out of him while they ate chicken soup, “Then what happened?” Jack asked with wrapt attention, his spoon almost missing his mouth

Ianto rolled his eyes a little as he shifted to get more comfortable on the sofa, “Then I punched the guy in the face, he was being rude.” When Jack gave him a disbelieving look he added, “He started it! Tried to intimidate me with these great big tubs of lard behind him”

“If you give me their names,” Jack wheedled, “I could teach them a lesson”

“I think I already handled that” Ianto told him pointedly, “Besides I think I saw a police car pull up as Mark and I walked away. I know at least one of them was getting rowdy with one of the officers. The manager must have called them”

“I’ll take a look on the database tomorrow, see if there’s any charges”

Ianto knew better than to try and dissuade him by now and instead cuddled closer seeking comfort, he was hopped up on pain medicine so he could blame his clinginess on that in the morning, “My hero” he deadpanned

“What happened next?” Jack prompted him

Tired of this and wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed, Ianto sighed, “We went to Marks, he offered me a beer, he changed his shirt, I found a weevil in his spare room which was a real mess, he took me to the fight club, pulled a gun, kissed me, I head-but him, he threw me in the cage, you turned up, I was injured, you saved my life and we all lived happily ever after with chicken soup, the end,” he raised an eyebrow, “Now can we please go to bed, I’m exhausted”

“Fine,” Jack agreed as he took his half empty bowl off him, “But tomorrow I don’t want you up and about complaining you’re too wound up, it’s bedrest for you mister”

“Oh goodie” Ianto said in a monotone, already plotting how to get out of it. He knew all of Jack’s weaknesses, flirting and puppy eyes were not off the table.


	20. Lunch with Toshiko

The future was very strange, Ianto thought to himself as he stood in front of his filing cabinet deep in the bowls of the archives. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to happen once the team finally found out about him and Jack but it defiantly wasn’t this, it was almost anticlimactic. There was no shunning, no strange looks, no polite avoidance but then again it wasn’t how Jack had described either. There were no balloons or overly sexual inquiries.

Don’t get him wrong, he was glad the team seemed to have just accepted it but he couldn’t help but feel a little on edge as he waited for the other shoe to drop.

“Ianto?” Jack’s voice sounded in his ear and Ianto felt quite proud of himself that he hadn’t jumped, he was finally getting used to wearing an ear com. For the first few weeks it had startled him constantly

“Here” he said, tapping the blue button twice, another point to him, take that future technology

“I’m taking Gwen and Owen out on a retrieval, it’s just going to be you and Toshiko in the hub so don’t forget lunch”

Rolling his eyes, Ianto closed the filing cabinet with his good hand and turned to start the long treck back into the main hub, “Thank you for the reminder Jack, I am sure I would starve without your constant prompting to eat”

“You can eat something else later if you’re good” Jack practically purred right into his ear

“I don’t know, being good is such hard work” Ianto said as he felt his cheeks flush

Jack laughed, mentally picturing the blush he just knew would be rising on his lovers cheeks, “But worth it”

“Guys these coms are open, if you’re going to be disgusting do it on a private channel” Owen’s voice suddenly snarked over the line and Ianto stopped mid step absolutely mortified

“That’s not a bad idea,” Jack continued to laugh, “Talk to you later baby” Jack turned off his coms before Ianto could reply, knowing he was going to pay for it later but then again he didn’t mind a wound up Ianto too much, he could get really feisty.

Toshiko was waiting for him when Ianto finally surface ten minutes later, his blush had gone down but he did look a little more sheepish than usual. It wasn’t often Ianto spent time with the team one on one and Tosh steeled herself as she initiated Operation Befriend Ianto (OBI for short). The team was bursting with loud personalities, Jack and his dramatic flair, Gwen and her righteous heart, Owen and his snarky blustering, it was all too easy for quiet hard working Tosh and Ianto to get swept under the radar. She planned to change that.

Ianto smiled politely at his coworker and awkwardly tried to fish his phone out of his pocket with his good hand, the sling getting in the way a bit, “What do you fancy for lunch, I can order in for you”

“Actually” Tosh smiled back, putting her computer on standby, “I though we could go out for lunch, there’s a café just round the corner I have been wanting to try if you like?”

“Alfresco’s? Or the newer one, uh, Generations I think its called” Ianto asked as he stopped looking for his phone

“Generations, I’ve heard they make amazing sandwiches” Tosh grabbed her bag and coat, “Coming?”

Why not, it sure beat eating left over pizza from yesterday, “Yes, that sounds lovely” They took the invisible lift up and Ianto desperately tried to think of something he could say to fill the slightly awkward silence that hung over them like a heavy blanket as they walked across the plass, “Did you know that Jack once fell off the lift?” He surprised himself as the words came tumbling out of his mouth, Tosh seemed surprised too as she shook her head with wide eyes, “Well, I say he fell off it, he actually just fell through the whole the lift left”

“No” Tosh gasped as a grin slowly started creeping across her face, “Really?”

Smiling shyly, Ianto nodded, “At the time it was terrifying but looking back it is quite hilarious. There I was just walking across the hub to deposit some forms on the boss’ desk and then whoosh!” He gestured dramatically, taking a leaf out of Jacks book, “Jackson is falling from the sky, I can remember it as though it were yesterday, you should have heard him Toshiko” he chuckled fondly at the stupid memory, “screamed like a little girl”

Tosh couldn’t help but giggle, “Was he okay?”

“He was fine” Ianto smiled, touched she was concerned for his well being, “It had rained something horrid the past week so the water level had risen, the pool by the water tower cushioned his fall. He was upset about his hair though, I remember he pouted like a child because the water had ruined the hairstyle he had spent ages on that morning.”

“Sounds like Jack,” Tosh nudged him lightly with her shoulder, careful not to jostle his bad arm, “You must have a bunch of stories about him, the Jack before we knew him that is”

“That I do” Ianto agreed, “Though I fear he has some stories about me too so I shan’t be sharing the worst ones”

“I’ve got a few if you’re willing to trade, he’s been far from a saint while you were missing” Tosh bargained, opening the door for him as they arrived at the café so he didn’t have to try and do it with his left hand.

Owen had booked him in almost immediately for the surgery on his arm and Ianto had taken it like a champ, in fact Jack had been the one in a tizzy as if he had been the one about to get a futuristic medical operation. Then again, Ianto was a bit of a bad patient, constantly trying to do things he shouldn’t and arguing over his medical leave, he had barely taken three days of recovery time before he was back in his Archives. He sure gave the nurses a run for their money when he was in hospital but Jack had told them it was nothing new, he had always been like that.

After getting their food and taking a seat, Ianto settled on a lighthearted story he could tell Toshiko, “Did Jack ever tell you about the time we were summoned to the palace by King George?”

“Oh no, I dread to think” Tosh preemptively groaned, already imaging the worst, “What did he do?”

“It was after I had unfortunately had my first run in with a Weevil, I had been trying to distract it so an elderly neighbour of mine could escape but I ended up badly hurt. I was brought back to Torchwood where Jack found me and saved my life” Ianto started from the beginning, “King George heard all about the incident and summoned Jackson and I to the palace where he insisted I join the institute. Of course Jack was his usual self, charming and suave, he had forgotten to mention to me that he and the king were on a first name basis. I was left a bumbling mess, making a fool of myself of course”

“Oh no” she said again, giggling behind her hand as he carried on

“It gets better, the then Princess Elizabeth II soon joined us and we had afternoon tea. I had no idea which fork to use for what, I had three glasses to guess from and all the while Jack is using the best table manners I have ever seen him use. I was so scared of getting crumbs on the carpet that must have coast as much as my house that I could hardly stomach a single bite”

“That’s awful, he seriously gave you no warning?”

“Not a peep” Ianto shook his head with a genuine smile, “I have never let him forget it”

“That reminds me of the time he had to go to a conference with UNIT, Owen told me all about it after because I couldn’t go” Tosh said as Ianto took a bite out of his sandwich, which was heavenly in case you were wondering, the people in the future had made great progress in the culinary arts, “Apparently he did the same thing to Owen, there was a huge fancy meal and Jack gave him no warning. Looks like he’s still up to the same tricks”

“Yes, well” Ianto chuckled, “Jackson never has been that imaginative, he excels in some areas mind but I hardly think Owen would appreciate those”

Tosh felt her eyes almost pop out of her scull at what Ianto had just admitted, albeit in a roundabout way, and here she was thinking he was somewhat of a prude. You know what they say, it’s always the quiet ones. Eager to change the topic, Tosh blurted the first thing that came to mind, “You call him Jackson sometimes”

“Old habits die hard,” Ianto shrugged, “He was introduced to me as Jackson, back then it was risky to seem too familiar. No one really cared during the war so I could call him what I liked, though I mostly only used it when I was cross with him”

“How did you two meet?” Tosh asked after a short silence, “If you don’t mind me asking”

After taking a moment to finish eating his food, Ianto decided that if Toshiko hadn’t been rude to him so far that she probably only wanted to know for curiosities sake, not so that she could mock him for it, “We met in a bar that catered for specific tastes” he felt his throat tighten a bit as he remembered what had brought him there in the first place, “Lisa… she wanted to go and dragged me along. We told our parents we were going out dancing” he paused as his heart ached for his friend, he owed her so much, “I’m never going to dance with her again” he said softly, more to himself than to Toshiko but she heard him anyway and put a comforting hand on his arm

“She must have been very special”

“Oh she was” Ianto agreed lost in his own memories, not really thinking about what he was saying until after he had said it, “She was the most caring woman I had ever met, she was funny and sweet and I loved her like a sister.” Sensing that he had made the mood a little dour, Ianto tried to lift their spirits again, “It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though, she used to drive me mad listening to Al Dexter, I hated his music but she adored it”

“Hmm, and what music did you like?” Tosh raised an eyebrow, making a mental note of the name so she could google him later

“I never was a big fan of music, singing hymns as a boy put me off it a bit. I much preferred the silly songs Jack would sing from time to time, quite a few of them I have recently discovered to actually be modern hits. Would you believe he tired to pass off music from my future as his own?” Ianto scoffed

“Go on, which songs” Tosh grinned, knowing her boss this was bound to be good

Ianto tilted his head to one side as he considered his response, eventually deciding on, “A surprising amount of Lady Gaga to be honest, I think he may have a slight obsession with the woman”

-

When Jack returned to the hub with Gwen and Owen trailing behind him covered in goop, muttering to themselves no doubt plotting his murder, he was slightly surprised but mostly pleased to find Ianto and Toshiko sat on the old sofa laughing with each other, “Hey, what did we miss?”

However when Toshiko took one look at him and burst out into another lit of giggles, he was slightly less pleased, “Jack,” she gasped out between bouts of laughter, actual tears steaming down her cheeks, “Did you really get a perm so you could look like Elvis?”

“No” Jack shot a glare in his lovers direction as he crossed his arms, “why, what’s he been telling you?”

Sobering up, Ianto winked at Tosh before getting to his feet, “Never mind that, what happened to Gwen and Owen?”

“This one told us he recognised the artefact we went to find, told us it was harmless” Owen glared at his boss treasonously

Jack’s glare disappeared immediately only to be replaced with a look of indignation, “Is was harmless, you’re fine!”

“I’m covered in alien goop!” Gwen argued

Owen nodded along, “It stinks Jack, some of us have plans later”

“Third time this week you’ve had dinner with Dianne” Jack teased him, why Owen wouldn’t admit they were an item was lost on him but he appreciated the easy target Owen was offering him, it wasn’t often he got to tease him like this.

“I’m sure a shower will clean it off” Ianto tried to placate them both as Owen and Gwen glared murderously at the Captain, “And I can put your dry cleaning on the account”

Gwen huffed and rolled her eyes, “See Jack, _this_ is how someone should treat you when you’re covered in disgusting alien goop. Thank you Ianto”

“Don’t mention it” he struggled to hide his smile as the two agents walked away to get clean, “What was that stuff?” He asked Jack

“It really is harmless,” his lover insisted as he placed the containment box on Owens desk, “A children’s toy, like a water pistol just with slime”

“Maybe you wouldn’t be finding this all that funny if you had been the one on the receiving end,” Ianto held his hand up when he realised the innuendo, “Don’t say it, I’m going to make coffee. Do you want one?”

“I’d love one” Jack decided to let Ianto escape without embarrassing him if only so he could pry information out of Tosh while he wasn’t there, “What did he tell you?” He asked again once Ianto was out of earshot

“Nothing important, we were just talking” Tosh shrugged with a teasing smile that told Jack she had leverage over him, damn, “He really is a very funny man, hides it well under all that professionalism”

“Don’t I know it” Jack huffed as he flopped down on the sofa next to her, putting his feet up in the coffee table, “I take it you two had a nice time today then?”

“We had lunch out, I took him to a café down the street” Tosh nodded, “I like him”

“Paws off Sato” Jack growled jokingly, “He’s been mine since before you were born”

Ianto’s laughter graced the hub before a Tosh could respond, walking over carrying a tray of coffees in his good hand Ianto rolled his eyes fondly, “You know how to make a man feel old”

“What did I say? Wrinkles and all” Jack insisted with an honest smile, he would love this man until the last star burnt out and then some.


	21. Family Bonding

“Are you sure they are going to be alright without us back at the hub?” Ianto asked for the hundredth time as Jack pulled to a stop at some traffic lights. He knew his presence wouldn’t be all that missed but Jack was their leader, maybe he should have come alone

Resisting the urge to sigh, Jack glanced over at his lover, “They will be fine, I left a bag of haribo’s on Owens desk to keep him out of the girls way”

Nodding nervously, Ianto tapped out a rhythm on his knee and looked out of the window, “Okay, if you’re sure”

“Ianto, you have nothing to worry about” Jack tried to ease his nerves, “I’m going to be there the whole time”

Clenching his jaw, Ianto continued nodding, “Yeah, I know. I’m fine”

“Still a terrible liar” Jack said more to himself than to Ianto but he received a glare anyway, “Look she’s excited to see you, if everything goes tits up I can just take us back to Cardiff”

Choosing to ignore his lovers turn of phrase, Ianto gnawed on his bottom lip, “You don’t get it Jack… She’s the last link I have to Lisa, I don’t want to ruin this”

Jack knew there was a reason Ianto had been putting off their trip to meet Lisa and Emily’s daughter, he had thought it was his dedication to Torchwood not fear of messing it up, “Hey,” he smiled at him, “If she doesn’t care about my immortality she won’t care about your accidental trip though the rift. That girl already loves the bones of you, Lisa used to tell her bedtime stories about you”

“She did?” Ianto asked timidly after a short silence, “What sort of stories?”

Jack chuckled but stayed focused on driving as the traffic thinned out, “Well lets see, her favourite was the story about you setting the kitchen curtains on fire I think, the wedding a close second” he smiled fondly, “Lisa never did forget about you, you know? Had a picture of you on the mantle” Throat tight, Ianto only managed to hum as he breathed deeply through his nose, “She would say sometimes,” Jack shot a quick look over to make sure he wasn’t pushing too far, “‘Ianto would have loved this’, or ‘I wonder what Ianto would think’”

Blinking furiously, Ianto cleared his throat, “I… thank you”

“What for?” Jack asked as he turned a corner gently

Ianto simply said, “Everything” it was still hard to remember her but the throbbing pain was slowly dulling to an ache the more he processed it. There was no doubt in Ianto’s mind that Lisa would never leave his heart but the wound was slowly healing even if it was going to scar.

The two men drove in silence after that though it wasn’t uncomfortable, you don’t know a man for almost twenty years and feel like you have to make small talk. Jack had told him Lisa and Emily’s daughter lived in London, that she worked in the catering industry and that she was very excited to meet him but apart from that Ianto didn’t really know much. He hated not knowing.

Then again, he thought as Jack pulled up outside a modest house, he hated surprises even more, “Ready?” Jack asked as he unfastened his seatbelt, “Ianto?”

“Yes” Ianto managed to choke out, opening his door quickly before he lost his nerve and asked Jack to take him home, he could do this, she was family, “Come on”

Jack taking his hand as they walked down the drive was unexpected but not unappreciated, in fact having something to hold onto grounded him a bit, put things back into proportion. If she was a half as lovely as her mothers then he had nothing to fear. Jack gave him one last searching look and he must have found what he was looking for as he nodded to himself and knocked on the door.

The following five and a half seconds were some of the tensest of Ianto’s life, he could hear muffled voices and what sounded like a barking dog but before he could full process the fact, the front door came sweeping open and a women practically threw herself out of the house and into Jacks arms as a small yapping dog started nipping at Ianto’s heals, “Uncle Jack!” She grinned as he span her around like she weighed nothing at all

“Hello Alice, I have someone very important to introduce you to” Jack beamed as he set her back on her feet, “Alice Carter meet Ianto Jones, Ianto this is Alice” he waved back and forth, unashamedly staring at them both as he waited to see what would happen

Alice was the first to react, smiling at him brightly as she extended a hand for him to shake, “Hello, you look just like the picture mum had on the wall, it’s a pleasure to meet you”

Ianto shook her hand gently as he tried to get a grip of the situation, Alice was bright and smiley and immediately struck him as a bit of a chatter box, not that he minded of course, Lisa had been one herself and it was something he had sorely missed these last few months, sometimes the silence could be oppressive. “Believe me the pleasure is all mine,” he said politely as he resisted the urge to glare at the little dog currently biting at the hems of his trousers

Smiling widely, Alice opened her front door wide and waved them in, “Come in, come in. How was the journey over?”

Taking the lead, Jack practically carried Ianto into the house, “Good, little traffic, maximum show tunes”

Ianto rolled his eyes as Alice scoffed, their gazes locking as they recognised a kindred spirit, “He was belting out songs I’d never even heard of all down the motorway with the windows open” Ianto told her, “Even when we were sat still in traffic, people in the cars surrounding us kept giving him funny looks”

Another grin crept along Alice’s face as she showed them into the sitting room, “Yeah, he does that. I remember one time I was doing a school play and he decided it would be a great idea to sing along with me, damn near drowned me out”

“Hey now,” Jack crossed his arms, he wasn’t about to let Ianto gang up on him with another woman, it was bad enough Tosh kept giggling when he was within three feet of her, he didn’t need Alice turned against him as well, “I wasn’t that loud and besides, Ianto sings in the shower”

“I do not” Ianto blushed as Alice laughed, “Jack can’t button his own cuffs, that’s why he rolls up long sleeved shirts”

Jack gaped for all of two seconds before he could defend himself, “Lies, I roll up long sleeved shirts because it makes my forearms look amazing”

“While that may be true it doesn’t dispute the fact that you can barely dress yourself”

However, before Jack could think up something to say they were interrupted by Alice’s muffled giggling, “Sorry!” She waved her hands about in such an Emily way that Ianto was transfixed, “Its just mum always said you two were like an old married couple, I haven’t seen uncle Jack this domestic since… well ever really”

An old married couple, Ianto pondered, he and Jack had been together a long time he supposed and at the time Jack and Emilys wedding had almost felt like his own but surely they couldn’t be that bad. He and Jack didn’t finished each others sentences or nag each other over who finished the least of the milk, though that might be because it was always Jack and they knew by now it was pointless to argue about it because he was never going to change, just like how Ianto would never change the way he squeezed from the middle of the tube of toothpaste instead of the end even though the knew Jack was right and it was better to do it from the end.

“We are, aren’t we?” Jack snapped him out of his musings as he sighed almost dreamily at the way Alice had described them, “Enough about us, how have you been?”

“I’ve been keeping myself busy, works been good,” she ran a hand through her hair, “Joe sent a post card the other week for Steven, we was happy enough but he’s been more excited to see you since I mentioned you were coming for a visit”

Unaware of who Joe and Steven were, Ianto simply sat back and let Jack catch up with Alice, listening to every word that came out of her mouth with excruciating concentration, if he listened hard enough he swears he can hear an echo of Lisa just in the way her daughter talks, her mannerisms, her attitude, all of it reminded him painfully of her, “Oh, sorry I’m completely forgot,” Alice rolled her eyes, “Jack probably didn’t mention my son did he?”

“Um, no I don’t believe he did” Ianto resisted the urge to glare at his lover for leaving out such an important detail, he knew he didn’t know how to handle children

Seemingly able to sense the tension she had caused even though Ianto hadn’t even looked at Jack, Alice hurried to explain, “It’s not his fault, I’m very protective over my son. Jack is so used to keeping quiet about him it probably just slipped his mind. If anyone heard him talking about us I have no doubt we’d get hassled”

“You want to keep your son away from Torchwood, I understand” Ianto soothed her, “Don’t worry, I would never put either of you at risk”

“I know,” Alice tilted her head to one side, “Or at least I assumed, based on what my mums told me about you. I know they would have been over the moon to see you back here”

“After Lisa stopped hitting me with her tea towel that is” Ianto added for her, surprised when she laughed as hard as she did

“Sorry, its just she used to do that to me too” Alice wiped her eyes, “I find myself doing it to Steven from time to time”

“I’m sure he’s a strapping young lad” Ianto offered, again kids aren’t really his area of expertise, he could gladly go his whole life without coming into contact with one.

“You’ll get to see for yourself soon, he gets back from school in about ten minutes” 

Ianto struggled not to gawp, he hadn’t signed up to meet a child, his wife’s grandchild no less, what would he say to him, he knew next to nothing about children, “How… nice” he could feel Jack eyes on him but refused to look at him because he had no excuse for being so awkward. Instead he changed the subject, “Did Lisa make a good mother? I know she always wanted children”

“Both of them were amazing,” Alice declared immediately, “My mums adopted me in 1985 when I was ten years old, I couldn’t have wished for a more loving home”

“And what is Stevens father like?” Ianto guessed he’s misspoken when Alice smile became strained and Jack let out a little noise next to him, “I’m sorry,” Ianto flushed, “I didn’t mean to presume, does Steven have another mother?”

That, at least, seemed to get a more genuine smile out of Alice as she rolled her eyes almost fondly, “Its not that, Stevens father left when he was very young. He’s not in the picture anymore. He sends cards at Christmas and birthdays.” She shrugged, “He’s not the worst father”

“You’re a single parent?” Ianto asked, irritated slightly when Jack tensed up next to him, when was his lover going to stop thinking the worst of him, “That must be difficult, especially since Jack tells me you work full time as well”

“It can be challenging yes but I love my son, I wouldn’t change him for the world”

Ianto nodded along, “Quite right not to. How old is he if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Just turned 9 last month, I was 25 when I had him. My mums loved the bones of him” Alice pulled her phone out and showed him a picture of a smart young lad with blond hair and a cheeky smile but before Ianto could compliment him, the boy himself came charging into the house like a whirlwind of noise and mess

“Uncle Jack! Uncle Jack!” He was shouting as he threw his bags to the floor and launched himself at his uncle, “You’re here uncle Jack!”

“Hello soldier!” Jack grinned and Ianto’s was slightly taken aback by how right Jack looked, so comfortable in his own skin, no worried frown or tense shoulders. He looked happy, no enraptured as the boy stumbled over his words in an effort to describe his day, “That sounds great Steven, look I’ve brought someone I’d like you to meet. This is Ianto”

Feeling put on the spot with the child’s whole attention on him, Ianto wasn’t sure what to do or say. Luckily Steven had that covered as he frowned and started scrutinising him, “You look like the man from Granny’s photographs”

“Um…” Ianto wasn’t sure if he was supposed to tell him or not

Luckily Jack came to his rescue, “Steven” he told him, “It is very important that you don’t tell anyone this, just like you don’t tell them that Uncle Jack doesn’t get older” once he received a nod from Steven to show he understood he explained, “Ianto is a time traveler only he did it by accident. He’s the man from Granny’s photos”

Steven wasn’t sure he understood, “He’s granny’s husband before she married Nana?”

“Yes” Jack nodded, “He is my very special friend and excited to meet you”

“You mean he’s your boyfriend” Steven corrected him with a knowing look before swirling around and bombarding Ianto with questions, “What year were you born? Did you fight in world war 2? Do you walk funny? Granny said you got shot in the leg once, did it hurt a lot? How did you travel through time? Can you use a computer? I can. Are you my grandad then? You’re not old enough to be a grandad but I’ve never had one so I guess you’ll do”

One at a time Ianto, he told himself, “I was born in 1920, I don’t think I walk funny but I was shot in the leg and it did hurt a lot” he scrambled trying to remember the other rapid fire questions, “I flew through time in a special airplane but only by accident and I can use a computer”

“Are you my grandad then?” Steven asked again as he hadn’t gotten an answer yet, “Or are you an uncle like Jack?”

“You can call me whatever you want, within reason” Ianto looked back at Alice to see what she though of all this but apparently it was nothing out of the ordinary if her resigned smile had anything to do with it, “Though I’d quite like to think I don’t look old enough to be a grandad yet”

The rest of the visit went a lot smoother after that, after an afternoon of what Jack gleefully called ‘family bonding’ they all went out for dinner before they called it a night and went home. As much as Ianto had enjoyed their company he was exhausted. Jack seemed to be able to tell as on the drive back he left the radio on quietly between them, only humming on occasion in contrast to the loud show tunes he had been practically screaming earlier. Not that Ianto had minded all that much, Jack did have a lovely singing voice after all.

“I think that went well” Jack said quietly as they cruised down the motorway back to Cardiff

Suppressing a yawn, Ianto agreed, “Yes, it was nice to finally meet Alice, even if Steven took me by surprise”

Wincing, Jack risked a glance over, relieved to see Ianto wasn’t mad, “I didn’t think he was going to be there actually. I thought Alice was just going to tell you about him but I’m glad you did get the chance to meet.”

“He’s a nice kid” Ianto nodded, “Though I don’t know how Alice copes all by herself, I spent one afternoon with him surrounded by other competent adults and I’m knackered”

“It takes practice” Jack assured him, “Not everyone is a born parent y’know”

Ianto hummed as he closed his eyes, resting his head against the seat, “Children aren’t really my thing, I’m glad Lisa and I never had any. Not only would I have panicked every time they so much as moved but it would have been awful to become an absent father. I would never forgive myself”

“Just for the record” Jack said softly as Ianto drifted to sleep next to him, “I think you would make an excellent father, baby, I really do” when the anticipated rebuttal of the endearment never came Jack looked over to see his lover fast asleep.


	22. Dancing

Ianto wasn’t afraid to admit that he wanted the team to like him, after all who wouldn’t want the people you work with day in and day out to like them. Of course, Jack already liked him so he didn’t have to put in much effort there, Toshiko and him had bonded over somewhat mutual interests and the odd gossip session here and there but Owen and Gwen on the other hand were less easy to befriend. Over his few short months working with them he had realised a few choice things, Owen was a bit of a dick and Gwen was often blinkered and stubborn.

That’s not to say they hated each other though, no, Gwen was always polite if a little overly curious as to his personal life and Owen had found respect for him after the Weevil-fight-club incident.

He just wanted them to get along and had stupidly expressed this to Jack when they were half asleep in bed too exhausted by their long day at work to do much else than cuddle up under the sheets, “I have just the idea, we can have a team night” he enthused, cuddling him tighter, “We could all go out for a drink after work, maybe a meal. That would help”

“I’m not sure” Ianto frowned in thought, “What if the others would rather just go home? I know Gwen has Rhys and the last time I spoke to Dianne she said something about staying with Owen…”

“They can bring them along” Jack pressed a soft kiss to his neck, “I have just the place in mind, I’ve been wanting to take you for a while but we haven’t found the time”

“Where?”

Jack laughed and gave him a squeeze, “It’s a surprise”

“I hate surprises” Ianto grumbled but he knew he wouldn’t get very far, if Jack had made his mind up there was very little he could do to change it. Besides, how bad could one night off with the team be?

-

A much as he hated giving up control, Ianto allowed Jack to plan a ‘team night’ to try and strengthen his bonds within the team but if he had know what he was planning on inflicting them with, he might have put a stop to it immediately, “You want us to go where?” Owen demanded, arms crossed looking particularly sulky today

“The town hall, I would rather it the old dance hall on the edge of town but that got boarded up years ago so this will have to do. There’s a party this Friday night and I expect you all to be there, dress to impress”

“Is this for a mission?” Gwen asked, as confused as everyone else was

“No mission” Jack shook his head with a scheming smile, “Just team bonding”

Owen of course, immediately tried to beg off, “I have plans on Friday”

Giving him his best innocent expression, Jack tilted his head to one side, “I already asked Dianne, she said she would be happy to come with you”

“What about Rhys?” Gwen asked as Owen grumbled under his breath, not denying anything.

Things had been going better at home ever since she realised what her priorities were, Jack could never be her forever, he would never age, he would watch her die and even though a quick tumble in the sheets might be something worth fantasising about she knew deep down that Rhys is what she really wanted. He loved her unconditionally and was always there for her at the end of a long day.

“Bring him along too” Jack kept on grinning which Ianto found suspicious even if he didn’t call him on it, “The more the merrier!” He was going to get to the bottom of this

-

“Jack?” Ianto frowned as he looked at what Jack had laid out for him to wear, “Jack!?” He called louder when he got no response

“What?” He popped his head round the door with concern, “Does it not fit?”

“Of course it will fit me, its mine” Ianto huffed recognising his uniform from the war, “But why do you want me to wear it?” He had to admit Jack had kept it in excellent condition after all these years, it was almost too painful to think about how his lover had kept his clothes even after decades of him vanishing into thin air

“Trust me,” Jack smirked, “You’ll fit right in where we’re going” and with that he sauntered off again, leaving Ianto no choice but to pull his uniform on and pray whatever his lover was plotting wouldn’t be too awful

It still fit pretty well though it felt strange to be wearing it after all this time, the fabric had aged without him and it felt plain wierd. By all means this should be the uniform of some dead soldier but here he was, out of his time still wearing in the damn thing. He hoped Jack knew what he was doing, he would hate it walk into a room of people dressed ‘normally’ and stick out like a sore thumb. He just had to trust that Jack wouldn’t purposefully put him out of his comfort zone.

Then again he’d gladly go anywhere wearing whatever Jack pleased if it meant he could kiss him senseless while he wore his _own_ uniform, “Like what you see?” He teased as he did a spin, but Ianto was too busy mentally drooling to really take much notice as to what he was saying, he was hit with a hearty dose of nostalgia. While it had been far from ideal he did remember the time he spent with Jack during the war fondly, he was loathe to admit even as he was terrified of getting caught it had been a little thrilling sneaking around. 

Seeing Jack dressed like this was bringing everything back, and he was even wearing a tie, “Man, if I’d known slicking my hair back and pulling on a tie would make you so flustered I would have done it weeks ago!”

“Shut up a minute” Ianto groaned as he quickly closed the distance between them, fingering the tie softly, “You look really handsome”

Momentarily floored by the genuine, relatively innocent compliment, Jack just blinked like an idiot, “Thanks”

“I like this tie on you” Ianto continued earnestly, “And your hair looks lovely”

“Easy there tiger, don’t want me getting too excited” Jack eventually managed to joke

Gently tugging on the tie, Ianto pulled Jack in for a chaste kiss, “I love you” if someone had told him all those years ago on the battlefield that one day he would be here with Jack he would have called them crazy, but here he was and it was better than he could have ever imagined.

Jacks arms came up to circle Ianto’s waste, “I love you too” he wast sure why Ianto was acting all sentimental and affectionate all of a sudden but he was going to soak it all up, “Come on, we should go meet the others”

-

Dianne had never been a big fan of themed parties but as Owen led her inside the town hall she smiled at what she saw, this was more like it! As much as she was loving her new life in the future, a good old fashioned dance was right up her ally. Jack had brought them all to a forties themed dance and she was in her element, while she couldn’t dance like she once could because of the baby bump she was giving it a good go. Besides with Owen next to her she didn’t look nearly half as bad.

“I should have guess it would be themed” Tosh rolled her eyes as she sat down next to Gwen, Jack was at the bar with Rhys getting them drinks while Owen and Dianne danced. Ianto was mysteriously absent but if she had to guess he was probably either at the toilet or talking to the live band to get a song request in. They weren’t half bad.

“Here you go ladies” Jack grinned as he set the drinks down at their table, “Have either of you seen Ianto?”

“Toilet I think” Gwen said as she sipped her drink, leaning into Rhys

Jack looked around and nodded,“I’ll go check”

Rhys wanted until he was out of earshot before chuckling at Gwen, “You could have told me your movie star good looks boss was gay”

“He’s not” Gwen defended him, “He likes both men and women” she refrained from telling him that her boss claimed to have shagged aliens too

“Still, he’s in a relationship with that Ianto bloke right? And Owen is with Dianne, I’m just saying it would have made me feel better knowing all these attractive men are in relationships” Rhys explained

“Come off it, you know I’d never cheat on you” Gwen smiled, pressing a kiss to his cheek as Jack returned with his arm comfortably draped around Ianto’s shoulders. Tosh couldn’t help but think they looked like something out of a history book which in a way they kind of were. It was so strange to see how they would have looked all those years ago, she had gotten used to seeing Ianto in modern cut suits and Jack in his blue shirt and suspenders look

“Found him, he was putting a request in with the band” Jacks smile was so wide Rhys worried he’d split his face in two, “I can’t wait to dance with-” he was interrupted as his phone went off in his pocket, never one to ignore his phone just in case, he checked the caller ID and grumbled under his breath, “Its Swanson, I’d better take it”

Ianto watched with dismay as Jack took the call outside, not two minutes after he’d gone did the band start playing his request, “I don’t suppose either of you lovely ladies would like to dance?” He asked, voice tinged with disappointment.

He had been excited to dance with Jack, it was something they had never been allowed to do before in public and Ianto had been looking forward to it tremendously, “Sorry Ianto love, I have two left feet” Gwen grimaced, as much as she wanted to cheer him up she didn’t want to show herself up

“What about her?” Toshiko pointed to a table nearby, where a blonde woman in a flared skirt was tugging determinedly at her companion's arm, fruitlessly trying to get him up out of his seat. Ianto took a few shy steps and spoke to her, and a moment later they were headed for the floor, hand-in-hand, with matching smiles on their faces.

Tosh couldn’t help but think that Ianto was magnificent on the dance floor. Every movement was graceful and smooth, almost fluid as he twirled and lifted his partner in time with the music. Ianto expertly led her through a few step sequences meanwhile Owen wad tripping over his own feet trying desperately to keep in time while Dianne just shook her head with a smile at the uncoordinated man. It was a stark contrast and Tosh couldn’t help but think Owens abysmal dancing only made Ianto’s look even better.

Once the song was over, Ianto smiled shyly at his partner once more and led her back to her seat before joining the team back at their own table as Rhys was back at the bar getting more drinks. Smiling, he sank into his seat and drained his glass of water, “That was more fun than I remember it being”

“Where did you learn to dance like that, Ianto?” Gwen asked clearly impressed

Shrugging nonchalantly, Ianto was going to brush it off until a familiar hand settled on his shoulder, “Jack” he smiled as he looked up

“We had to, everyone used to dance” he took his seat and put an arm around the back of Ianto’s chair, he’d caught most of the performance and was ashamed to admit he was feeling a little jealous of the woman he had danced with, “Up until the last couple of decades dancing was an expected social skill.”

Nodding along, Ianto agreed, “You took someone out to dinner, you danced with them”

“You went to a wedding, you danced” Jack added

Not one to be one upped, Ianto continued, “You went to a club, you danced’

But Jack was almost equally as stubborn to have the last word, “Even the military had formal balls”

“Yes,” Ianto raised an eyebrow, “And it was real dancing, with actual steps, not that random overly sexual _grinding_ all the kids do nowadays.”

“You sound like an old man” Gwen giggled.

“Well, I am an old man.” Ianto huffed but he was still smiling, “Not too bad for almost 90. Everything alright Jack?”

“Yeah, it was just a disturbance call. Someone saying they heard music coming from the Ritz, I can take someone to check it out with me tomorrow”

“I wouldn’t mind going,” Ianto offered, “I’ve been wanting to take a look at the Ritz for a while, see if I can do an inventory on what would need to be done to get it reopened. Maybe petition to the council?”

Jack didn’t look too sure, “Maybe, I don’t want you in the field”

“Its just music Jack, the melody is hardly going to harm me” Ianto joked as Rhys returned. As apprehensive as he had been about tonight he was already having a great time, he should learn to trust Jack to plan things more often as this had been a lovely surprise. Before he can express his thoughts though, the band began to play another familiar song, “Dance with me?” Ianto asks sounding overly calm but as Jack looked into his lovers eyes he could see the excitement and daring reflecting back at him.

“Thought you would never ask” he winked before practically whisking him off his feet

You wouldn’t think something as innocent as dancing could have such an effect on two men, it wasn’t even a particularly romantic song but the whole team couldn’t help but watch as Ianto span their boss around the dance floor as if it were second nature to them both, matching love sick expressions and heart eyes and all, “Never would have guessed Ianto would take the lead” Owen comments as he sat back down

“I know,” Gwen agreed as she watched Jack do a bloody twirl, “He’s just… so different. It’s like there’s Torchwood Jack and Jack from the forties”

“I think he’s becoming a mix of both” Tosh said as she smiled sweetly at the pretty picture they made, Jack was whispering something into Ianto’s ear and the other man seemed to be laughing, “Its like Ianto woke part of him up”

“I’m sure he did” Owen snorted, looking sheepish when Dianne raised an eyebrow in his direction, “Emotionally, I mean” he amended and Tosh suddenly realised that Ianto might not be the only one causing different sides to her coworkers to resurface, whatever was not-so-secretly going on between Dianne and Owen had her full support if she could make him look like a scolded school boy.


	23. Spatula

Ianto blinked slowly a couple of times as he woke up, his senses returning to him one by one. First was vision, the chipping paint on the ceiling that he nor Jack had gotten around to going over yet, next was his hearing, the birds chirping outside the window, the traffic on the street. Then his sense of smell, “Hmm” he hummed as he buried himself further under the sheets that smelt of Jack. They were soft and warm against his skin but, Ianto sat up suddenly and looked around, there were no octopus arms clinging to him, where was Jack?

Grumbling to himself, Ianto got out of bed and checked the time. 8 o’ clock, much too early for Jack to be up on a Saturday they didn’t have to go into work. Shuffling into his slippers, Ianto yawned and made his way downstairs to find Jack stood in front of the stove of all things, “What are you doing?”

Spinning around, surprised Jack smiled waving a spatula at him, “I’m making breakfast!”

Allowing his eyes to roll down his lovers body, Ianto nodded slowly, “And you decided to do this naked because?” Really, Ianto thought, he shouldn’t be complaining, a naked Jack with his hair still a mess from last night making him breakfast was far from unpleasant. Why question it

“Why should I have to wear pants in my own home?” Jack sounded geared up for a fight, like he had been made to defend doing so in the past many times, “It’s only you and me here, its nothing you’ve never seen before and it’s actually medically proven that-”

“Oh no, don’t get dressed on my account. I’m enjoying the view” Ianto felt his cheeks heat up a little as soon as he’s said it but he wasn’t going to take it back. Jack was the most attractive man he had ever met, if he wanted to cook naked he wasn’t going to look a gift-horse in the mouth.

“Oh” Jack frowned a bit, pointing the spatula at him with a small smile, “Who are you and what have you done to my poor sweet innocent Ianto? Hmm?”

In for a penny, in for a pound, “That’s not what you were calling me last night” Ianto felt his face heat up even more but ignored it as Jack laughed freely to himself. Being embarrassed was worth it if he made Jack laugh like that

“Sit down, breakfast is almost ready” Jack waved him away but Ianto just came closer once his back was turned and slid his arms around his waist, resting his chin on his lovers shoulder content to watch him cook

“Hi” Ianto said simply as he hugged him

Feeling warm and fuzzy all over, Jack almost didn’t ask, “Is everything okay?” He loved it when Ianto was affectionate like this, when they would just block out the world and be helplessly, lovingly domestic but he always felt like he needed to check Ianto wasn’t doing it for the wrong reasons. He would hate to find out that Ianto was putting himself out of his comfort zone just to make him feel better.

He needn’t of worried though, Ianto pressed a soft kiss into the base of his neck, “Everything is perfect” Ianto wasn’t a man of many words but being here, being able to do this, just made him so damn pleased, “I’m just… really happy” he sighed, cuddling closer just because he could

“Me too” Jack took the pan off the hob and turned around so they were face to face. He gently cupped Ianto’s chin in his hand and raised it so they were looking in each other’s eyes, “I love you”

Up close, Jack could see the way Ianto’s eyes still lit up at those words, he could see the instinctive smile that tugged on his lips, his whole expression bloomed into one of joy and warmth, “I love you too”

-

Owen woke up and forced himself to stay very, very still. He didn’t want to risk waking up his bed partner as he drank her in, never wanting the moment to end, “Stop staring at me” Dianne huffed, reaching behind herself to grab a pillow to hit him with

“Sorry” he wasn’t, “How are you feeling?”

“Like morning sickness sucks balls” she grumbled, curling up on herself slightly, “Haven’t you doctors found a way to fix it yet?”

“Sorry, I can go make you a cup of tea if you’d like” he offered, rolling his eyes when she hit him with the pillow again, “Ginger biscuit?”

“Please” she nodded, watching him walk out of the room before shouting, “Bring the packet” Owen had been amazing, at first she had tried to keep her distance thinking she needed to do this alone, that Owen was only chasing after her because he felt like she needed a man to protect her and her child. He had persisted though, after a few rejected dates he had surprised her by instead settling to be a friend. A friend who let her stay in his spare room, a friend that was kind and patient, who offered her the support she needed without being overbearing.

Soon it was she who asked him on a date, one date turned into two, two turned into three and here she was in his bed waiting for ginger biscuits after a night of PG cuddling. Owen Harper was a sweet man under all his gruff snark and she was glad to have met him.

-

Tosh looked up from her computer to check the time and cursed, she’d done it again. Sometimes it was like she didn’t even have an internal body clock, if she did it certainly didn’t tell her it was time to go to sleep. She’s stayed up all night working on a few equations Jack had given her, completely by accident of course, and now she was expected in at work in two hours.

She could always kip on the old sofa, it was just her and Owen today and he wasn’t likely to care if she caught up on some sleep. He’d mellowed out a lot in the last few months. Rolling her eyes at herself, Tosh decided to take a shower before figuring out what she was going to do with her day.

-

“Five more minutes,” Gwen’s wheedling was followed by a sharp tug on the sheet currently pulled tight over her head.

“That’s what you told me half an hour ago love,” Rhys didn’t sound annoyed though, more amused than anything, “I thought we had plans to go out for lunch today, god knows you take ages getting ready, might as well start now so we’re not eatin’ late again”

Peeking up at him, Gwen saw he was teasing and hit him with her pillow, “You’re lucky I love you Rhys Williams” sitting up she tried to glare menacingly but it was slightly ruined when she yawned

“Morning, love” He grinned, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead

“Mmmm. It is a good morning.” She hummed happily, “Tea?”

“On the dresser” Rhys checked his watch, “We should probably be off in two hours, that enough time fo you to wake up and get ready? If not I can always make lunch here since you’re not in at work today”

Swinging her legs out of bed, Gwen kissed her boyfriend on the nose, “No, that’s plenty of time pet. Thank you for the tea” deciding to tease him a little to get him back for stealing her bedcovers, Gwen pulled her top off and sipped her tea in just her bra, “Good brew love, I think I’m going to get a shower” then again, she got a better idea. Looking up at him through her lashes she added, “Care to join me?”

-

“I’m going with Tosh and Owen to check the dance hall out later” Ianto said as he looked up from his phone with obvious pride at having used it properly without help, “She said there aren’t any readings coming from the building so I’ll be safe”

Relenting with a sigh, Jack agreed to let his lover go though he did follow him with a pout to the door, “Are you sure you want to fo that today? The Ritz will still be there tomorrow” he enticed him, “We could have a naked day, just you and me, no clothes and lots of sex”

“Subtlety eludes you as always” Ianto rolled his eyes with a small smile, “Tell you what, let me go an do something productive for a while and when I get back we can do anything you want”

Jack raised an eyebrow at the offer, “ _Anything?_ ”

Despite knowing that he was signing himself up for something insane Ianto nodded, “Go nuts”

“Oh I will” Jack promised with a leer, they were going to have fun later

“I’ll be home before you know it” Ianto smiled

“Of course you will” Jack handed him his coat, “Now, shoo up before I drag you back to bed and forget what I’ve been promised”

“Sir, yes sir” Ianto saluted with a wink, obviously going for joviality but Jack was ripped from the conversation, his mind dragging him back to when he last heard those words from his lover. 

They were on the tarmac, Ianto was boarding the plane and he was about to unwittingly lose him. Those three little words had haunted him for years, the last words Ianto had spoken to him and suddenly he realised with perfect clarity that he could never lose this man again. He had been broken for so many years, a part of him had been missing and if he lost it again… 

He just couldn’t, when the doctor came back for him there would be no wild adventures, no time and space, no Tardis madness. He was going to get the doctor to fix him and spend the rest of his life on earth with the man he loved. He would welcome every wrinkle and grey hair as long as he had Ianto by his side.

Grabbing his lovers hand before he had chance to walk out of the door, Jack held on tight with a sense of foreboding, “Come back to me” it wasnt a question 

Confused for a second, Ianto squeezed back and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, “Always Jack” he promised, “Always”


	24. The Ritz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, I know this is only a short chapter and that I didn’t post yesterday but I swear I have a good reason! I was about to post yesterday when I realised there was a massive plot hole, like it was such a big hole its a wonder I didn’t get lost in it. I have no idea how I didn’t see it when I was writing but hey, nobody’s perfect right? Anyway I’ve been frantically rewriting the next few chapters and I think I’ve almost fixed it, just sit tight for a few days and I’ll be making the chapters a bit longer again. Enjoy this for now...

The Ritz was an old building but boarded up windows and graffiti aside it was still beautiful. Toshiko and Owen were waiting outside by the SUV when Ianto arrived, causing him to double check the time, “I’m not late am I?” He hated being late

Tosh gave him a tired smile and he immediately picked up on the badly concealed bags under her eyes, she must have had a late one, “Not at all, we just came early to scope the place out a bit, get a few readings”

“Yeah, the sooner this is over and done with, the better” Owen uncrossed his arms expectantly, “Lets go in shall we?” The manager was waiting for them inside but Ianto wasn’t really paying attention as he looked around the foyer with interest. Before he knew it Owen had dismissed the man and was leading them through the building. 

Obediently following behind the two agents, Ianto sprouted off some facts he had researched, “The Ritz dance hall, it's been derelict since 1989, built in 1932 and apparently playing music from the 40s”

“Why are you here again?” Owen asked, not unkindly, as he took a look around, “Jack hasn’t given you field agent clearance yet, has he?”

“Um, no” Ianto smiled as he found the dance floor, “I’m just here to do an inventory, try get the council to reopen the place. It was a staple of the community back in the day” he gestured to the ceiling where a chandelier still hung, “It’s beautiful, a slice of history right here under our noses and they want to knock it down”

“Apartment blocks, right?” Tosh displayed her own talents at digging, “It would be a shame to get rid of this place, you can almost feel the history in the air”

“That would be the asbestos” Owen rolled his eyes at their dramatics and ushered them back downstairs, “Come on. There's nothing here but memories and dust” 

Tosh grabbed his arm to stop him though, “What’s that?” She whispered

Cocking his head to one side, Ianto listened intently, “Sounds like swing to me” mindful that he wasn’t an agent, he allowed Toshiko and Owen to go in front of him as they rushed back upstairs, surprised to see a party in full swing. The place was alive with people and music, it was oddly comforting to see something he remembered from his own time even if it shouldn’t be there

“They look so real” Owen muttered, he didn’t believe in ghosts but this was weird

Seemingly able to read his mind, Tosh put a hand on his arm to put him at ease, “They're not ghosts” showing him her handheld PDA, she explained, “It's a temporal shift”

“It's beautiful” Ianto whispered, getting a little swept away in the moment before Toshiko snapped him out of it

“We should get out” 

The manager was waiting for them back in the foyer, holding the door open, “Do call again” and Ianto couldn’t help but think he would love to, maybe if he could get the place reopened he and Jack could have a few dates here. He had really enjoyed dancing with him last night and would jump at the chance to do so again.

As soon as he stepped outside though, future date plans were the last thing on his mind, “Where's the SUV? Has it been stolen?” Tosh looked around almost frantically as Owen stared at the sky with wide eyes

“It's night” he stated the facts

“Really Owen? I hadn’t noticed” Ianto snarked as he spotted some union flag bunting strung across the road that defiantly hadn’t been there before, “Look at this” he grabbed their attention, pointing at a poster outside the doors

“1941 kiss the boys goodbye dance?” Owen read aloud, his tone thick with confusion as he tried to piece things together

Tosh gasped as she read it too, “Saturday 20th January 1941 7.30pm” she sounded terrified, “We’re in 1941. How is that possible?”

Ianto just stared at the sky and pursed his lips, “For Christ’s sake, _again?_ ” Jack was never going to let him live this down

-

Jack swept into the hub, his body language screaming of irritation and impatience as he stormed around looking for his missing team. Ianto had meant to be home almost an hour ago and he wasn’t answering his damn phone, this was not how their day off together was supposed to go. They should be naked in bed right now doing delectable things to one another, not playing hide and seek, “Ianto?” He called out as he searched the empty workstations for any clue as to where they might be, “Owen? Tosh?” Still no reply, where were they?

He was stomping up to the boardroom when an alarm went off, grabbing his attention. It was Toshiko’s rift monitor programme and it was very, _very_ loud. Great, just what he needed. The rift had been opening more and more recently and with his team MIA Jack dreaded the phone call he was going to have to make as he couldn’t handle this himself, Rhys could be a very grouchy man sometimes but duty calls, “Gwen? Can you get down to sage street?” Jack winced as she let loose a mouthful of ugly, “I know, you can have tomorrow off but I need you to find Tosh and Owen”

It didn’t take much more convincing after that, with Gwen on her way to find Tosh and Owen, Jack delved right into trying to hack into Toshiko’s work to see if he could find out what was going on. It was times like these that he regretted telling her to go nuts on the security systems, for all he knew he didn’t have much time.


	25. Messy and Complicated

Tosh held her phone above her head with a scowl on her face, “It's no use. It's dead. I can't get through to the Hub”

Right, Ianto thought to himself, think. They were somehow back in the forties with no way of contacting Jack and no way of getting back. They had no back up, no money and no useable ID. Taking a deep breath he started with one problem at a time, “Okay, Tosh, Owen we need to go back inside. That’s where we were when whatever this is happened to us” Without realising it, Ianto took charge and ushered them back inside the main foyer, “Its key that we don’t panic, keep calm and stay focused. We are going to be alright”

Tosh looked around with wide eyes as Ianto closed the doors behind them, “We really are in 1941. What if we can't get back?”

“Flotsam and jetsam slips through all the time” Owen clenched his fists trying to keep cool, “We'll get back”

“Owens right” Ianto smiled tightly as a couple walked by them, “Jack will find a way, for now we just need to keep our heads, don’t panic or draw attention to ourselves” 

Shaking her head, Toshiko had other ideas, “They can't help us back at the Hub because I have the latest readings in here” she nodded to her laptop case, “My computer back at the hub has layer upon layers of security, it would take even Jack a while to get through the firewalls and people are staring at us”

“We need to try and blend in” Owen looked down at himself with a frown, he was wearing his usual jeans a shirt combo, not very 40’s

“Here” Ianto shucked off his suit jacket and handed it over to Owen, “Put that on and take your earpiece out. You too Tosh”

Wrinkling his nose up at the suit jacket, Owen begrudgingly slipped it on finding the fit a bit loose but wearable, “What about you?”

Glancing down at himself Ianto shrugged, “I’ll be fine, thank god I decided to put a suit on today though” if Jack had gotten his way that morning he’d be strutting about in tight fitting jeans, small mercies. At least Toshiko wasn’t sticking out like a sore thumb, her blouse and pencil skirt weren’t exactly fashionable but she would pass, “Tosh, you look fine” he tried to reassure her when he saw how uncomfortable she looked

“It's easy for you to say” she hissed as people kept looking at her, “I'm the only Asian here.”

Surprisingly it was Owen who comforted her, slipping arm arm around her shoulders, “Don't worry Tosh, we won’t let anything happen to you”

-

Gwen had searched every inch of the place and had found no sign of her teammates, just as she was beginning to worry a noise startled her from behind, it was music but where was it coming from, “Jack,” she spoke into her coms, “I’ve had a look around but most of the doors are locked, the music is back though, I have no idea where it is coming from”

Back at the hub, Jack was still working his way through Toshiko’s fail safes, when he found her they were going to have a word, he shouldn’t be blocked from her files at least not all of them, “Okay, but you said the SUV was still outside?”

“Yes” Gwen sighed as she made her way back outside, ignoring the fading music as best she could, “There is no sign of them though, have you tried tracking their phones?”

“Of course I have!” Jack snapped before counting to ten in his head, if Ianto were here he would tell him to calm down and concentrate, “Get back to the hub, we need to figure out wha this going on”

Gwen agreed and signed off, smiling sweetly at the old man that had let her inside, “Thank you for letting me in, Bill was it?”

“Bilis Manger” The old man smiled back, “I’m sorry you didn’t find your friends, I’ll keep an eye out”

“Thank you” what a sweetheart, she thought as she made her way back to the hub, possibly the most polite caretaker she had ever met

-

Ianto decided it was probably best for them to take refuge at the bar, if anything strange had happened here someone was bound to have noticed and a bar is exactly the place to look for a loosened tongue. Owen on the other hand had something else in mind, “Two pints and a brandy”

Rolling his eyes at Owen, Ianto almost missed it when an airman by the looks of him came over to them, “I haven't seen you in here before” he grinned with a glint in his eye that Ianto knew all to well meant trouble

“Eight and six, please, sir” the barman said as he handed over their drinks only for Owen to pat his pockets dumbly, of course he hadn’t thought of that, his money would be worthless here

Luckily for him their new friend was all to eager to come to their rescue, “I'll get them”

“Thank you” Owen raised an eyebrow as he grabbed his pint, taking a swig before the other man could take it back 

“On one condition” Ianto tensed as the man grabbed Tosh and practically carried her away, oh no, not on his watch

Toshiko was awkwardly trying not to fall over her own her feet as she was reluctantly lead through a dance when Ianto came to her rescue. It could only have been thirty seconds since she was carted off but there he was tapping on her captors shoulder, “Do you mind?” He asked politely but with a hint of steel behind it to show he wasn’t messing around

“I'm only borrowing her, mate.” The man protested, not letting her go

Ianto stared him down, “Maybe she doesn't want to be borrowed”

The other man wasn’t backing down though, puffing up his chest and raising his chin, “You want to make something of it?”

Ianto would later claim it was all Jack’s fault, he had gotten far too used to saying inappropriate things over the last few months and really he can’t be blamed for this fuckwits attitude problems, “You can always dance with me if you like” he offered with a shit eating grin, channeling pure Harkness when the man shoved him away, “Okay, I’ll lead. You follow” he shoved him back, “Come on Tosh”

The punch was unexpected, he was gearing up to show this puny little man what a real punch was when Tosh grabbed his arm, “Ianto” she tugged him back a little, “ _Ianto_ , we're meant to be blending in” while it was touching he was defending her, people were staring and if past experience is anything go to by it couldn’t mean anything good

Then, to both Ianto’s and Toshiko’s total surprise another competitor entered the ring. A tall, dark handsome one wearing an all too familiar uniform. He was an RAF Captain if the stripes were anything to go by, “Cut it out, kiddo,” American too by the sound of it, “Sorry about that. The men are a bit lively tonight. It's last day of OTU tomorrow. Apologise to the gentleman, George.”

The fuckwit, as Ianto had dubbed him, formally known as George grumbled, “I was only dancing”

The captain smiled, “I think it was your fist he didn't like, not your foxtrot.”

George scowled as everyone laughed, “I'm sorry.”

“It's okay” Ianto refused to cup his throbbing jaw, “You barely got me”

The Captain surprised him yet again by adding, “I think the lady also deserves an apology”

And George did as he was told, “I'm sorry”

“Apology accepted” Tosh gracefully allowed the fuckwit to scamper off and Owen wasted no time hurrying over to them with a somewhat sheepish expression that he hadn’t stepped in before, he was the field agent, not Ianto

“I’m sorry about all this” the captain reiterated, “Let’s get a drink, are you a volunteer too?” He asked Ianto 

Well damn, he couldn’t say he was himself because the real Ianto Jones or rather this time periods version of him was in France if he was remembering correctly. Once again bullshit mode was initiated, “Yes, I’m private Daffyd Jones 110th” he used his brothers identity as he knew he was currently on leave at home with their parents, “And yourself?” He asked, ignoring the looks Tosh and Owen sent him, he would explain later

“I'm Captain Jack Harkness. 133rd Squadron” he extended his hand and Ianto froze for a split second before taking it quickly, “And who are your companions might I ask?”

“This is Doctor Harper” he nodded at Owen, “And Miss Sato” he turned to gesture at her and missed a bright flash as someone called out to look the other way. Ianto span around but it was too late, someone had taken their picture. Damn, he just hoped his face was obstructed or that was going to be difficult to explain. What if someone he knew saw it? He was supposed to be abroad fighting the Nazi’s not larking about at a dance with a man that shouldn’t exist.

-

Gwen rubbed her eyes and blinked furiously as the words on the screen started to blur. Jack had told her to comb through everything they had on file connected to the dance hall and after two hours of squinting at old newspaper print her eyes were starting to suffer, “Found anything yet?” Jack called out from Tosh’s work station were he had almost cracked the coding on her security system 

“Nothing yet” she apologised, “Sorry Jack but all I see is… hang on” she enlarged one of the pictures on her screen, “Jack you’ll want to come and look at this”

“What? What is it?” He asked as he frantically scanned her screen, “Oh” he felt the air leave his lungs as he realised what had happened. He didn’t know why and he didn’t know how but it was clear to him now. Owen, Tosh and Ianto had been snatched, seems like his lover doesn’t want to wait for the Tardis to give him a lift, he’s been doing all the traveling himself. Looking back up at him from the screen was a picture of Tosh, Owen and the back of Ianto’s head all stood next to another hot soldier.

A _very_ hot soldier who’s name was printed underneath in very bold letters, it was Captain Jack Harkness, “What’s going on Jack, why does he have your name?”

Well shit, Jack thought as he stared at the picture intensely, things were about to get messy and complicated all over again and Ianto wasn’t even here to share his misery, “We don’t have time for this Gwen” When he got Ianto back, and yes it was when not if, he was going to slap him for doing this to him again even if it wasn’t his fault. Why did the universe taunt him like this? He had only just got him back and now he’d lost him again.

“But-”

“No, look I’ll explain everything once we get Ianto back but for now we need to focus” Jack shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the photo

Tension high, Gwen crossed her arms “You mean Ianto, _Tosh_ and _Owen_ ” she corrected him angrily

“Well of course I meant all of them,” Jack growled, “Stop twisting my words”

“I understand that he’s important to you Jack but you can’t-”

“You don’t understand anything” Jack practically spat at her and Gwen was shocked at the venomous tone he used, she didn’t get a chance to respond though as Toshiko’s computer pinged as Jack was running over to check wha tit said, “It was the rift” he ran a hand through his hair, it wasn’t a planned attack on them then, just shitty luck, “It snatched them up, their time of disappearance matches the spike”

“So how do we get them back?” Gwen asked, “There has to be a way”

“I’ll figure something out” Jack grit his teeth together, pinching the bridge of his nose as the most obvious solution came to him.

He could open the rift…

But he couldn’t, god he wanted to but the consequences would be disastrous, it could devastate the city, the world even. Glancing over at the rift machine Jack clenched his fists, he would blow up moons for the man he loved, burn civilisations to the ground, die a thousand times if he though for even a moment Ianto could live with the guilt. And he knew he would, blame himself that is, even if Jack was the one pulling the trigger. There had to be another way… there was always another way

Gwen, for once, seemed to be thinking along the same lines, “If the rift took them, maybe we can make it give them back… we have to open it”

“We can’t” the words physically hurt as he forced them out, cutting his throat like glass, “If we open the rift we risk everything”

“I thought you loved him” Gwen argued, “You’re not even going to fight for him. I would do anything for Rhys”

“What you have with Rhys is nothing, do you hear me _nothing_ compared to what I have with Ianto” Jack lost it, “If you think for one minute that I’m not going to do everything within my power and then some to get him back then you’re more naïve than I thought!”

“Well do something then!” She challenged him, “Stop standing there telling me you’re going to figure it out and do something”

“Ianto’s not stupid” Jack muttered to himself, Ianto was one of the most intelligent men he had ever met, “He must have left me some sort of message, a clue”

“What sort of clue?”

“I don’t know!” Jack tugged on his hair frantically as he struggled to keep a level head, the realisation that he might have lost Ianto for good all over again slamming into him at full force, this couldn’t be happening, “The ritz, he must have left me a message there” he told himself desperately, if he could just go there himself he was sure he would find something. He turned on his heel and rushed out of the hub, calling over his shoulder for Gwen to stay put and keep looking for any mention of the team in old papers, there had to be something.

His Ianto was a genius, he had three plans for every possible situation imaginable, he would defy all odds just to snark at them afterwards. Jack didn’t believe in much but by god he believed in him.


	26. Pulling A Gwen

Ianto wasn’t completely sure why this handsome stranger had the same name as his lover but really there were more important things to be worried about right now, for one they had to find a way to get home. He could ask Jack all about his apparent namesake once they got back to where they were supposed to be.

“Why does that man have Jack’s name?” Tosh asked once Ianto excused them from talking with the Captain

“Well it’s obviously not his name, our Jack I mean” Ianto wasn’t going to pretend it didn’t sting to realise after all this time Jack had lied about something so important but he had always been good at burying things down to deal with later, “For now we need to find a way to leave Jack and Gwen a message so they know where to come looking for us”

Owen nodded, for once they were in agreement, he needed to get back to Dianne as much as Ianto needed to do so for Jack, “So, any ideas?”

“Well it was the rift that brought us here, it must be” Tosh kept her voice down, “I’ve been working on a way to harness the rift, to sort of channel it. I’ve got half the equation saved on my work computer back at the hub… if Jack and Gwen can find it they could use it to open the rift and bring us back”

But Ianto was already shaking his head, “Jack would never open the rift, it’s too dangerous”

“He might do if he was desperate enough” Owen said, pointedly staring at him to make himself clear, “Where’s the other half of the equation Tosh?”

“That’s the problem,” she sighed holding her laptop case in front of her, “I’ve got it right here”

-

Jack stood very still with his eyes closed, listening intently, trying to hear something…anything. If Gwen had heard music earlier maybe there was a chance that Ianto could hear him now, “Ianto, please” he said to himself feeling beyond helpless, “I don’t know what to do baby”

-

Owen almost crashed into Ianto’s back when he stopped waking mid stride in the middle of the corridor, “What?”

Ianto was glaring around the corridor with suspicion, “Nothing, I thought I heard something” on edge he decided they needed some privacy in order to come up with a plan. He tried the first door on his left and sighed in relief when it opened, “No one here. Come on, quick”

Immediately starting to set up, Tosh powered her laptop up on a desk in the middle of the room, “It works” she smiled, comforted by the technology as per usual, numbers she could trust

“Your battery is running low” Owen pointed out as the message flashed across the screen

Ianto stood by the door to keep watch, glancing over his shoulder with a frown, ‘What are you doing anyway, I told you we can’t open the rift from here and Jack would never do it“

“Jack might not… but Gwen would” Tosh argued as she copied down her equation

“Gwen doesn’t know the risks” Ianto crossed his arms, “We can’t-”

“You’re not in charge here Ianto, we’re the field agents, we have more experience when it comes to these things” Owen told him and as if the belittling weren’t bad enough, he had the audacity to sound like he was explaining to a toddler why he had to go for his nap, “Just let us do our jobs”

“Oh really?” Ianto asked sarcastically, making sure to sound particularly scathing as he ripped him a new one, “Remind me Owen, just how many times you have been flung though time, have you lived and survived in this time period for the majority of your life? Do you understand the consequences of what opening the rift could be?” He paused for a second as Toshiko kept scribbling down numbers, “No? I didn’t think so”

“So what do you propose we do instead?” Owen demanded

“We wait, Jack will think of something” Ianto insisted, Jack had never let him down before and he doubted he would start now

Laughing bitterly, Owen asked, “Is this the same Jack that didn’t even tell us his real name? We can’t trust him and we’re not safe here”

“Pearl Harbour, Ianto” Tosh added, “The longer I stay here the more danger I am in”

“It doesn't happen till the end of the year” Ianto bit his lip, “I would never let anything happen to you, to either of you”

Shaking her head slowly, Tosh continued to jot down her work as fast as she could, “Granddad stayed in London but he was persecuted. If I stay stuck here, what will happen to me?”

“I'll take care of you” Ianto insisted, and he meant it. From what Jack had told him he never saw him again after the sky gypse took off so it only made sense that either they find a way back now or he lives out the rest of his life away from Jack which just seemed impossible. 

What about Lisa? God she was still here, alive, so close…

“Ianto?” Tosh sensed the shift in him immediately, something wasn’t right, “What is it?”

“Nothing” he uttered feeling oddly empty inside, “I’m fine, we need to think of a plan” he paused, “Which doesn’t involve opening the rift and destroying half of Cardiff” he added when Owen went to argue again, “There has to be another way” he said unintentionally echoing Jack

“Well when you think of it, let us know” Owen snapped, he was done with this. Ianto may be from this time but if they just hung around waiting for Jack they were going to be waiting a hell of a long time. He was a Torchwood agent, it was his job to make a mess while trying to fix things, “Tosh and I are going to stay here and work on getting this equation back to Gwen, why don’t you piss off and do something useful back in the main hall. Gather intel or something”

“Fine” Ianto huffed, he knew there was no way of sending a message to Jack on that damn laptop, the satellites it used hadn’t even been launched yet. It was probably safer for them in this room anyway, they were less likely to draw attention to themselves, it wouldn’t do for them to get into trouble now would it?

Smiling tightly, Ianto weaved his way back through the main hall, avoiding dancers and large clusters of rowdy men. If he could get to the basement he could scratch something into the walls, he had noticed a lot of graffiti down there when he’d been checking the place out for renovations. If he could leave a message for Jack his lover would know where to find them, narrowing down the field seemed like the only thing he could do at the moment.

“Ah, Daffyd!” A hand caught him by the elbow, a hand that connected to a muscular arm and then again to an even more muscular chest. Goddammit Jack why did you have to share a name with an attractive soldier, why couldn’t it be an old wrinkly man that didn’t make him blush like a schoolgirl?

“Captain” Ianto forced a smile as he looked around for an excuse to leave, “I was just going to get another drink”

“We just got another round, you can have mine. I’m not much of a drinker” the Captain gestured over to his table and Ianto couldn’t refuse

Deciding to just neck the pint and scamper away, Ianto raised it in cheers and took a long sip, “Thank you”

Around him conversation continued, he was just about to make his escape when the fuckwit from earlier asked him a question, “You must have seen some action?”

Ianto bobbed his head not wanting to give himself away, “Let's just say the enemy comes in many guises”

Fuckwit grinned like an overeager puppy, “Yeah, I can't wait to get up there and give Jerry what for. How many did you kill in the Battle of Britain, sir? Twenty six, wasn't it?”

The Captain rolled his eyes and leant back in his chair, “You've heard that story countless times, George.”

George though, seemed perfectly content to fanboy over the Captain, “No one's as fast as him. Hasn't lost a man yet.”

“Care for another drink Daffyd?” The Captain asked, ignoring the fuckwit and for that Ianto had to admit he was growing to like the man

“I shouldn’t really, I’m meant to be looking for my friends”

The Captain seemed disappointed but didn’t push, “All right”

Just as Ianto was about to get up and slink away a woman came skipping over with a shy smile, “Hello, Jack. I know you're having a night with the men, but I thought I'd look in, if that's all right.”

It was clear to Ianto that this woman was obviously besotted with the dashing Captain “Nancy! Yeah. Good to see you” and it was equally obvious to him that the Captain was not

-

Gwen hated being stuck in the hub unable do do anything useful, she knew her plan would work but Jack was being purposefully narrow minded. Tosh had the information on her computer, they had a way of bringing the team back but he wasn’t using it. 

He wouldn’t take the risk but she would, really whats the worst that could happen? Tosh wouldn’t have been working on it in the first place if it was as dangerous as Jack had claimed.

She could do this, while Jack was out on his wold goose chase she could open the rift, bring back the team and save the day, “You’ve got this Gwen” she told herself as she scanned Tosh’s computer screen, none of the numbers made any sense to her but she could piece together what she needed to do. Bombs were falling, her friends were stuck in the middle of the Cardiff Blitz, it was her duty to get them out. She didn’t understand the numbers so she would have to improvise with the Rift Manipulator, just plug it all in and pray that it worked. 

Back at the Ritz Jack was scouring over every last inch of the place, it had been abandoned once he got there, the caretaker must have left early so he’d been forced to smash a couple of windows. Ianto would be pissed at the shards of glass that clung to his coat but to be fair he’d gotten displaced in time twice now so he was in no position to be angry with him.

_“Come back to me”_

_“Always Jack” Ianto promised, “Always”_

He could barely believe that had only been this morning, he never should have let Ianto come here without him. When he got him back he was going to put a leash on that boy and _not_ in the sexy way. They were officially even for the ‘stunt’ he pulled with the King back in the day, Ianto was causing him so much stress it wasn’t inconceivable that he’d be turning grey and that just was not acceptable.

-

Ianto really had meant to leave after the first drink but watching Jack talk and laugh with his men was almost hypnotic, he was so like his Jack but also wildly different, he was what he imagined his Jack would have been like if he had grown up on earth. Still charismatic and handsome but also more charming in a reserved sort of way, “So, what brings you down here?” Ianto asked as he sipped his water, wouldn’t do to get drunk when he was supposed to be finding a way to get back to the future

Fake-Jack or maybe he was Real-Jack smiled at him and wasn’t it a beautiful smile, “I had to rest up. Injured my back bailing over Kent”

Nancy rested a hand on his arm, “That's his excuse for not dancing. Mind if I join you?”

“Sure, why not” Once again Ianto observed the way the Captain seemed to begrudgingly accept her presence, he wasn’t an expert on ‘the straights’ but surely a man just about to go off to war would be more welcoming of his lady friend if he wished to… you know. Nancy was clearly besotted with the man and why wouldn’t she be? He was a handsome foreign soldier with an impeccable jawline, hadn’t Ianto also fallen for one of those? 

The real question was, why wasn’t Jack paying her any attention, “So, what's your next mission? 

Damn, Ianto bit his tongue, thinking on his feet, “Careless talk costs lives”

“I should go anyway” Nancy started getting to her feet

Double damn, “No, no, no. I didn't mean that to-”

“It's all right” the pretty, young woman assured him, “I can get a lift if I leave now”

“I'd better stay here” The Captain helped her into her coat

Nancy, looked up at him with wide eyes, “Aren't you leaving tomorrow night? You sick of us Welsh already?” She tried to play it off as a joke but Ianto could clearly hear the hurt in her tone

The Captain however either didn’t notice or didn’t care, “Yeah. That's why I'm still fighting for you” he kissed her on the cheek, “I'll be in touch when I'm next on leave” and watched her leave, undoubtedly downhearted 

Normally Ianto would stay well out of other peoples business, he didn’t know if it was the stress of time travel or the pint he’d drunk earlier but suddenly he was pulling a Gwen, “Was that it? You should go after her”

“She's a sweet kid, but I need to look after my men tonight. It's their last day tomorrow” the Captain nodded in the opposite direction and stupidly Ianto followed him into an empty stairwell, “She thinks she’s in love with me” he admitted looking terrified by the notion

Once again it was like he had no control over what came out of his mouth, “A lovely lady like that falling for you is hardly a travesty…” he slowly looked the man in front of him up and down as his stupid brain caught up. Oh. Oh! Could he be…“It's okay to be scared”

Jack just laughed humourlessly, his hands shaking a little as he ran them through his hair, “A captain has to keep his head.”

While that might be true, Ianto thought back to his time in the war, all those days and nights he’d spent terrified, not knowing what was happening or where he was going next. Living each day believing it to be his last all until Jack had found him sitting on that crate cleaning his gun. The war changed for him after that, sure it was still horrific and he spent half of it shaking in his boots but at least Jack had been honest with him, or he though the had been, “A captain needs to explain the risks, tell his men what to expect. There’s no use lying, that’s how men end up dead”

“So what do I do?” The Captain wrung his hands, “Tell 'em I saw a young boy get shot in the eyes mid-flight?”

Placing a hand over the Captains, Ianto Tried to comfort him, “I understand”

“Do you?” He lashed out though he didn’t pull his hands away, “Did you hear him on the radio yelling for his mom, while the Messerschmitts pumped him full of holes and blew his plane apart? All I can hear on the radio-” The Captain was interrupted by air raid sirens and as awful as he felt doing so, Ianto ran off in search of Owen and Tosh. The Captain wasn’t his responsibility, he had only just met the man. Lisa had always told him he had a soft heart.

He would deal with him later, for now he had two out of time Torchwood agents to find


	27. Captain Harkness

Tosh and Owen were easy to find, they were still cooped up in the office trying to find a way to leave half the equation for Jack and Gwen to find in the future, “Guys didn’t you hear the air raid sirens?” Ianto asked as he tried to get them to follow him down to the cellar, “There are literal bombs falling from the sky and-”

“We know none of them hit this place” Owen argued, “It’s still in one piece in the future”

“The very fact we are here right now is changing history, what’s to say someone else hasn’t come through as well and is changing it as we speak? We’re not safe” Ianto grabbed him by the lapel as he went to walk past him, “This isn’t a game Owen, we have come to a dangerous time and I don’t want to be the one who was to explain to Jack why you’re dead” Shrugging Ianto off, Owen stormed down to the cellar leaving Ianto and Tosh to follow in his wake.

“We’re going to leave Jack and Gwen a message, we wrote it in blood so it wont fade over time” Tosh explained as Ianto escorted her downstairs, “Look, this way they can open the rift safely” she showed him the message written in blood

“You still don’t get it, neither of you are listening to me.” Ianto shook his head, beyond exasperated, “Jack will not open the rift” he explained slowly, “It is too dangerous”

“We disagree” Tosh crossed her arms, mostly to make herself look more intimidating but also because it was pretty cold in the cellar

-

“Why isn’t this working?!” Gwen asked herself, feeling beyond stupid that she couldn’t get the damn thing to work, she had input the equation, wired everything up to the rift manipulator and zilch, nada, absolutely nothing. 

Who was she kidding? She wasn’t a genius like Tosh, she wasn’t fearless like Owen, she wasn’t even as brave as Ianto. She was just Gwen Cooper, a silly little girl who had stumbled upon something as amazing as Torchwood and had spent every moment since then trying to prove that she belonged. 

At first everything had been okay, Jack had trusted her, shown her respect and confided in her but then Ianto showed up. She didn’t blame him, it was hardly his fault but things had gotten ten times harder for her when he arrived, suddenly Jack only had eyes for him. She had been abandoned not sure what to do with herself anymore. Ianto had stolen the spotlight, proved himself worthy of Torchwood over and over again when all she seemed to be able to do was mess everything up.

She just wanted to prove that she belonged here with all these amazing people, she wanted them to see how brilliant she could be.

“Damn thing” she kicked the water tower half heartedly, maybe Jack was right, she thought, maybe this wasn’t the way forwar- Gwen span on her heel instantly as she heard something heavy crash onto the floor behind her. Gun out and ready she investigated cautiously but she couldn’t see anyone, or anything for that matter. Nothing was out of place, nothing had been moved… except… what was that?

Sitting on the ground by Owen’s workbench was what looked like a metal key of some sorts, it was round and definitely hadn’t been there before. Lowering her gun, Gwen approached the bench wearily and picked the key-thing up slowly, inspecting it from all angles before setting it back down again. What was it? Why had it suddenly appeared? Maybe it was the rift, she was sure Tosh had said something about it being sentient once or twice. It could have brought her this to help her bring back the team! Now all she had to do was find out how to use it.

She didn’t have long until Jack came back, he had called a few minutes ago to let her know he was on his way with something important. Hurrying back over to the water tower Gwen held the metal-key-thing up and tried to figure out where to put it. There were no buttons on it so that narrowed it down, it was metal though she wasn’t sure how that helped her… maybe if she- the cog door started to roll open, “Gwen?” Jack was back, “Gwen what are you doing?” He didn’t sound happy

Startled, Gwen dropped the key thing inside the rift manipulator, it bounced around a bit almost slotting into place. It all seemed so simple, this was why it hadn’t been working before, all she needed to do was add the missing piece to the Rift Manipulator like a jigsaw piece and then the team could come back!

“Gwen, No!” Jack shouted but he was too far away, he’d never make it to her in time

“Sorry Jack, this is the only way” she slammed the key into place and watched the whole thing light up, she’d done it

“What did you do?” Jack whispered, horrified as he watched the rift manipulator spark and splutter into life, “You have no idea what you've just done”

-

Not quite sure how it had happened, Ianto found himself once again cornered by the Captain in a quite, relatively private place, “Captain Harkness, sir” and wasn’t that a strange thing to say to someone who wasn’t his Jack, “What can I do for you?”

“Why did you want me to go after Nancy?” He cut to the chase, a calculating look in his eye

How hadn’t he pegged this guy from the start, “I just think you should live every night like it's your last” Ianto told him, he had a terrible feeling that something was going to happen to this man, if Jack had used his name something must have happened to him, “You should find enjoyment wherever you can”

“What are you trying to say?” Jack asked him quietly

In for a penny, in for a pound, “You should go to her,” he amended, “Or if not her then at least someone. Lose yourself in them, you never know when the hour glass will run out”

The Captain looked him up and down before nodding, “Maybe I should”

“Yeah” Ianto smiled nervously as he looked around, he felt like they were on the same page, Jack should go find some guy to kiss and be with before it was too late

“Is Toshiko your woman?” The captain asked suddenly, throwing him through the loop for a moment before Ianto realised he was asking if he was straight and therefore if he was going to tell anyone

“No” Ianto shook his head, his secret was safe with him, “There's no one here for me” his Jack was currently with this time periods version of him, Lisa was happily in love with Emily and future Jack was waiting at home for him.

“Good” the captain nodded, a nervous smile spreading across his face as he grabbed Ianto’s elbow gently, pulling him in close

Ianto had all of three seconds to realise he had deeply misread the situation, this was bad, very very bad, “Jack” he quickly put a hand on the mans shoulder to keep him back, “I might have to leave before the night is over” he tried to let him down gently

“Well, then make the most of now” Jack breathed before diving forward quickly, not giving Ianto much chance to back off. Oh god why did this keep happening to him? First Mark and now Captain Harkness, did he have a sign above his head asking men to kiss him? Jack was never going to let him hear the end of this.

“Oh, god, sorry!” A woman’s voice interrupted them mere moments before their lips would have met and Jack tore himself away from Ianto as if burnt, his eyes wide and full of fear

“We- we weren’t-”

Ianto breathed a sigh of relief, “Toshiko” this could have been so much worse

“Way to go Jones, and I thought our Jack was the inappropriate one” then again Owen just had to open his big fat mouth, “There’s something going on in the hall, Tosh is getting weird signals, come on you can kiss lover boy later if we’re still here”

“It’s not what it looks like!” The captain insisted

Shooing the others away, Ianto promised to follow in minute, he had a hysterical Captain to calm down first, “Jack, Jack listen to me they won’t tell anyone”

“But Daffyd-”

“No buts, nothing happened, right? Lets just pretended this never happened” Ianto patted him on the shoulder, “It can be our little secret”

The Captain still looked heartbroken though, “I want more”

Well crap, Ianto thought as he pulled away, he didn’t want to hurt the mans feelings but Jack was waiting for him back in the future. Captain Harkness was a lovely man, he was handsome, charming, polite and funny but he wasn’t his Jack. He had only known the man for a few hours, he wasn’t about to risk his entire relationship with the man he loved for a few stolen moments with a handsome soldier “I can’t Jack, I’m sorry” Ianto whispered before he fled from the room like a coward, by the time he reached the dance hall the room was shaking and a bright light had appeared out of nowhere 

“Ianto!” Owen called out, “Ianto we need to get out”

“Daffyd!” Another voice called from the other side of the room and for a moment Ianto was torn, does he follow his friends back or stay here in the time he knew best? He could use a fake name, watch Lisa from afar, live in the time he was meant to…

“Ianto, you have to come with us.” Tosh pleaded when she saw his indecision, “We _need_ you” In the end it wasn’t a difficult choice, he knew where he belonged

Ianto was by Jack’s side in three long strides, holding him by the shoulders at arms length, “I have to go” he locked eyes with the troubled man, “It's my duty”

He started to turn, intent on going home when Jack span him around one last time and planted a wet, open mouthed kiss to his lips. Now Ianto was far from a connoisseur of kisses but even he could tell this wasn’t a spectacular one, it wasn’t horrible but Jack clearly hadn’t had much practice at it.

“Ianto you have to-” the light flared brightly as Ianto yanked himself away, he ran as fast as he could across the room to reach Tosh and Owen, everything was blurry and in a blink they vanished right in front of him. Ianto smacked right into the wall and the last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a worried Captain Harkness hovering over him.


	28. Bond, James Bond

“Oh, you made it. You made it.” Gwen was almost crying with joy as she jumped up and down in the middle of the hub, “You made it. Oh, Tosh, come here, come here, come here.” She pulled her in for a hug before reaching for a disgruntled Owen, “You’re okay!”

“We’re fine” Tosh looked around, stricken, “Where’s Ianto?”

“Ianto?” Gwen asked, looking around as if she expected him to appear at the sound of his name, soon becoming frantic as her eyes darted around the hub, “Wasn’t he with you?!”

“We was running” Owen said looking pale as what had just happened sank in, “Shit! He was right there in front of us. He’s stuck back there”

“No, he can’t be!” Gwen shook her head wildly before her eyes finally settled on Jack, he looked… empty wasn’t the right word… desolate, “We’ll find a way-”

“Shut up” he spoke, just two words but they were so full of pain, anger and something dark Gwen didn’t recognise

“We can open the rift again” She gestured to the water tower, “If it brought them back it can do it again”

Jack didn’t respond, he just stood there glaring at nothing. It was off-putting, he was emitting a sort of dangerous aura that made the whole team on edge. Everyone held their breath as he pulled something out of his coat pocket, the letter Toshiko had left in the cellar, hidden in a can written in her own blood. Their boss clutched it tightly in one hand and held it up for them all to see, “This, what is this?”

Tosh was the one to bite the bullet, “I left a message for you and Gwen to find, coordinates and the other half of my equation. We thought you could us it to open the rift. Didn’t you?”

“No” Jack hadn’t blinked once since they arrived and it was starting to freak Owen out, “Gwen saw to that by herself”

“Then why is it important?” Owen asked

Jack stared at him with cold, empty eyes, “The message on the back” he brought to letter close to his face and read it again to himself, “If this is a trick, get as far away from me as you can. You do _not_ want to be in my way if it is” he warned them before stalking off leaving them all to wonder what the hell he had read on the back of Toshiko’s note

-

Ianto woke up feeling dreadful, his head was pounding and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls, “What happened?” He grumbled, reaching out, “J’ck?”

“I’m here Daffyd, don’t try to get up” a voice that certainly didn’t belong to his Jack told him, “No, stay still you’ve had a right knock to the head”

Forcing his eyes open, Ianto was met with the sight of Captain Harkness playing nursemaid, he had shed his uniform and was dressed in a simple shirt and slacks, “Where am I?” He wasn’t mean to be back home, not sitting in a dark room with a man who had stolen a kiss from him without his consent, he was relieved to find he was still wearing his own clothes

“I brought you back to my rooms, we’re in the Barack’s” Jack held his hands up in mock surrender, “My intentions are pure, I swear I only wanted to help you”

“You kissed me” Ianto pointed out as he sat up despite the Captains protests, “In front of an entire hall of bigots that could have had us both killed”

“They didn’t see anything” The Captain assured him, “The light had momentarily blinded them all”

“Well that makes it fine then” he snarked, he was done with being polite, this man however unintentionally had delayed his return home and that was it, a delay. He was getting back home if it was the last thing he did. Hell, he would cling to the bottom of the sky gypse as it took off again and get home that way if it came to it, “I need to get going”

“I thought” Jack stood up and followed him to the door, “Maybe we could…”

As frustrated as he was with the man for literally trapping him in the past, Ianto just couldn’t hurt him, “Captain Harkness… Jack, you are a lovely man and I admire you but I cannot stay” he ran a hand through his hair, “I’ve already spent too long here, I need to go”

Jack gave him a wide eyed look of rejection and Ianto felt like he had to give him something, “There’s a bar not far from here, caters to people of our… tastes. Round the back of the brick factory just off the side of the main road, I’ll meet you there for a drink when you’re next on leave. Ask for Emily, she’ll look after you”

He knew it was cruel, he had no intention of meeting this man for a drink but he knew how powerful hope could be. Had his own Jack not promised to meet up with him to before he went off to war? That promise had kept him going and who knew, maybe the Captain would find his own special someone there?

“You can buy me a pint” Jack chuckled with watery eyes

“Yeah” Ianto nodded with a sad smile, unconsciously echoing what he had said all those years ago to a different Captain, “See you later Jack”

Immediately after leaving the Barack’s Ianto realised he had no idea what he was going to do, with no plan, no jacket and no sense of direction he began to walk the streets. It probably wasn’t his brightest idea since there were air raid sirens going off every now and again but he was heavily concussed and wasn’t really thinking all too much.

Eventually his feet led him back to the Roald Dahl Plass, he plonked himself down on a cold bench and rested his head in his hands, he was fucked. How the hell was he going to get back home now? Ianto wasn’t sure how long he sat on that cold, hard and uncomfortably damp bench but when the sun started to rise he knew he needed to pull himself together. He needed to stop moping and start thinking.

Possible ways to get back to the future, plan A wait for Jack to open the rift again, Plan B he could wait for the sky gypse and somehow smuggle himself back on board, Plan C… he could somehow slip through time accidentally again, he was good at that. Plan… 4? No, D, plan D he could do the same thing Captain America did in that film Jack had made him watch though he wasn’t sure if freezing himself in ice would work because-

Jesus Christ on a Harley he was an absolute _idiot!_ Brockless! Tommy Brockless! He could just literally put himself on ice for a few years and freeze his way to the future.

Now that he had a plan, Ianto felt unstoppable. After a quick swing by the ritz to emend Toshiko’s note left for Jack and Gwen he marched down to the information centre with purpose, slamming the door closed behind him with a dramatic flourish he was sure Jack would have been proud of, “I need to talk to Brian Oswald”

“Who are you?” A man Ianto didn’t recognise sat behind the desk

“You must be Charlie Simpson” Ianto remembered Jack telling him about how Torchwood had lost their receptionist whilst he was away, this young man in front of him was going to get mauled by a weevil in a few months time but Ianto wasn’t really concerned with his troubles at the moment, he had his own to deal with, “I’m… Bond” Ianto smirked, “James Bond” Jack had been right, those films were a staple of British culture, too bad they hadn’t been created yet

“How do you know who I am?” The man asked, reaching for his gun

“Honestly,” Ianto rolled his eyes, “I know _everything_ now be a good lad and call your boss up here, I have an assignment for him. Official business, chop chop”

The thing is, Ianto found, if you act like you belong then people tend to just go along with it. Before he knew it he was down in the hub being offered a brandy by the very man who had imprisoned his lover on his return from the war and had (will have? Time travel messed with the tenses) left him to bleed out after being mangled by a Weevil, “So, agent Bond you say this is official crown business?”

“Yes” Ianto took a sip of his drink and grimaced at the taste, trust Oswald to buy something disgusting, “Top secret, you see we have intercepted a message, alien of course, providing us with some vital intel. Only two people in the world have read the decoded message and you’re looking at one of them”

“I see” Brian lapped it all up, “What can I do to assist you Agent Bond?” 

“I need to occupy one of your chriochambers” Ianto span on his heel in a somewhat excessive manner, “You must tell no one of this, especially that Harkness fellow, what was his name again? I was warned he couldn’t keep his mouth shut”

“Yeah that sounds like Harkness, Jackson his name is” Brian muttered, “Don’t worry he wont hear a peep”

Excellent, things were going swimmingly, “Good, now after you have placed me in the chamber you must administer yourself a dose of retcon. It is vital that you forget having met me. Write yourself a note explaining that you must defreeze me once a year like the Brockless boy but never in the presence of Jackson, do I make myself clear sir? You must make yourself forget after every time and make sure your successors do the same, the fate of the human race depends upon it”

Ianto thought that may have been laying it on a bit thick but Brian looked happier than a child on Christmas morning, “You can count on me sir”

“I knew I could” Ianto smiled charmingly as he followed the man down to the morgue where they kept the chambers, they had five in total, one of which held Tommy, another apparently him and a third which he had never opened even as it showed signs of occupancy, “One last thing” he told Brian as he went to lock him in, “The crown will kill you if you do not follow my express orders sir, have no doubt about that. We are at war and we cannot allow any leaks, am I understood?”

“Of course Agent Bond” Brian nodded solemnly before slamming the lid shut, well, Ianto thought as things once again started to black out, he hoped this worked.


	29. Frozen Peas

“If this is a trick, get as far away from me as you can. You do not want to be in my way if it is” Jack warned his team before storming down to the morgue where the chriochambers were kept, if this was some sort of trick he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. 

Slamming through the doors Jack came to an abrupt halt at the drawer marked James B and placed a shaking hand over the handle, in this moment two outcomes were possible, either Ianto was in this drawer or he wasn’t. If he was, great they could just wake him up and Jack could shout at him for a bit for all the stress he had put him through. If he wasn’t though…

Steeling himself, Jack’s grip tightened on the drawer handle, he _had_ to be. There was no way Ianto wasn’t in this drawer, he just had to be because if he wasn’t that meant the universe had fucked him over again and that was just plain cruel. Ianto was here, Jack trusted him to be.

With an almighty tug Jack broke the seal and pulled the chamber out, his breath catching in his throat when he looked through the little window to see a frosty Ianto.

Frantic, Jack flung the chamber open and practically climbed on top of his lover in his haste to pull him out, “Ianto” he whispered to himself as he got an armful of frozen Welshman, “Ianto oh my god, Ianto” he repeated almost in a chant as he rushed back upstairs with his love in his arms, something wasn’t right, his hair was flecked with ice, his lips were blue and he had been in that box for too long.

He needed Owen, they were supposed to defrost whoever was in the chambers at least once a year to make sure everything was alright but who knows how long Ianto had been left there like a discarded bag of bloody peas, “OWEN!” Jack thundered without breaking his stride down to the med bay, “OWEN! Get your arse down here and wake him up!”

“Where the fuck did he come from?” Owen asked with wide disbelieving eyes, Jack had seemingly pulled him out of thin air

“That’s not important!” Jack set Ianto down on the autopsy table hastily, trying to ignore how his body looked less like the man he loved and more like his corpse, “Just wake him up”

Owen quickly scuttled about, grabbing a needle full of god knows what and injected Ianto with it, “Come on, Jones” he muttered, checking for a pulse, “Damn it, nothing. Jack grab the defibrillator” he turned around and snatched the equipment off him in one smooth motion, “Charging two hundred, clear!”

“Owen” Jack whispered as he watched Ianto arc off the table, his eyes still closed

“The thing's shorting. Charging three sixty. Clear!” Owen winced as Ianto collapsed against the metal table again, “Jack, I can’t- he’s been frozen for too long-”

“Do it again” Jack ordered, “Owen, NOW!” He yelled, leaning over the table as Owen charged the defibrillator once more, “Ianto Jones, if you can hear me you’d better wake the fuck up or I’m going to lose it” he whispered into his ear, “You promised me”

Pulling his boss by the shoulder, Owen grunted, “Jack, move”

Doing as he was told, Jack resisted the urge to grab one of Ianto’s hands and instead watched as Owen sent another jolt of electricity through his lover, swooping in as he arced off the table to catch him when he gasped gutturally, “Ianto!” He held him in a bruising grip as he failed about ungracefully like a fish out of water, “Ianto calm down, you’re alright. I’m here”

“Let me go!” Ianto swung his fists in a blind panic, narrowly avoiding Jack’s jaw as he moved back to give him space, “What happened? Where am I?”

“Ianto, calm down mate I need to check you over. You’re back” Owen grabbed one of his flailing arms and shone a light in his eyes, “What do you remember?”

Panting, Ianto looked around the room and tried to get his bearings, “Oh Jesus, I’m alive” he exhaled, practically collapsing back onto the table. If it weren’t for Jack’s quick reflexes his head would have smacked against the cold hard table instead of a lovely warm chest, “Don’t put me back in the drawer, please don’t put me back in the drawer”

“You’re not going back in the drawer” Jack promised as he watched him carefully, “Ianto, can you open your eyes and look at me?”

Shaking his head, Ianto cuddled closer to his heat source, “No” his teeth were chattering and everything was still a bit muddled but he knew he wanted to be as close to this man as possible, “You smell nice”

Jack glared at Owen, practically daring him to laugh, “Thank you, that’s very nice of you to say. Can you tell me if you’re hurt anywhere baby?”

“Not your baby sweet cheeks” Ianto murmured before gasping and snapping his eyes open to drink in the sight of Jack as if it had only just occurred to him who he was cuddling up against, “Jackson!”

“Hey,” Jack smiled, ignoring the wetness he could feel sliding down his cheeks in favour of gazing adoringly at the man in his arms, “I’ve got you, you’re safe now I swear”

“I-” Ianto shook his head, tears pooling in his own eyes as he ducked his head into the crook of Jack’s neck. Swallowing past the tightness in his throat, Jack tried to think of something to say but for once he had nothing, he could count on one hand the amount of times he had seen Ianto cry actual tears and it never got any easier

“Sorry to break this up” Owen shifted from foot t foot nervously, “But I’ve sort of got to examine my patient”

Toshiko and Gwen had watched the whole thing from above and finally felt as though they could breathe once Owen declared Ianto was fine if a little chilled. A bath and a hot meal were prescribed as well as exercise to get blood circulating around the body again, “I knew he’d find his way back” Jack told Tosh as he watched Ianto getting dressed into some warm clothes, “Never doubted him for a second”

“Are you two going to be alright?” She asked, watching her boss with clear concern

Jack just gave her a soft smile though and nodded, “Of course we are” he had Ianto back again, how could he be anything but brilliant?

“And what about Gwen?” Tosh asked, she didn’t want to stir the pot but she wanted to know if Jack was going to do something drastic, “She opened the rift without your permission”

“She thought she was doing the right thing, she wasn’t but she didn’t do it maliciously” Jack sighed, he really didn’t want to be thinking about this right now, “I’ll deal with her tomorrow, tonight all I want to do is go home and make sure he’s okay”

“I understand” Tosh watched as Ianto made his way over towards them slowly, his gait stiff and uncomfortable, “If either of you need anything, I’m only a call away”

“Thank you Toshiko” Jack pulled her in for a quick side hug before releasing her and rushing to his lovers aid as he stumbled slightly, “Lets get you home Mister Jones”

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day” Ianto sagged against Jack’s side in relief, his wish to be comforted winning out over his pride for once. He just wanted to go home.

-

The drive home had been silent, as had the walk inside and even the bath they had shared to try and warm Ianto’s impossibly cold toes up. Usually silence wasn’t an issue for them, Jack had known Ianto for so long that a few hours of silent company were hardly a problem, in fact sometimes he even preferred the quiet. Not this quiet though, this quiet was tinged with uncertainty and fear and Jack hated it. Every time he went to open his mouth through, no words would come and so the silence had continued up until they were laying on opposite sides of the bed instead of cuddled up in the middle as usual.

“Ianto-”

“It was wartime, I know, but it was familiar” Ianto cut him off, not looking at him but at the ceiling, “I was terrified, I don’t even think I knew I was but deep down I was terrified I would never see you again”

“I would have found a way” Jack turned onto his side so he could watch Ianto clench his jaw and avoid his eyes, “You know that right, I never would have left you there”

“Nor I you” Ianto risked a quick glance over, his throat closing up as he saw nothing but love in Jack’s expression. He had to look away though, he’d never get this all out if he had to look at him, “I met someone, at the Ritz”

“Captain Jack Harkness” Jack continued for him, “You want to know why I have his name”

“Not really” Ianto replied calmly, not seeing the completely baffled look Jack had on his face, “I don’t particularly care why you two have the same name. I’ll admit at first it bothered me that you had lied about it but I’ve realised since then that it doesn’t matter what you call yourself” Ianto continued to surpass his every expectation, even after all this time, you’d think Jack would get used to him being amazing but it surpised him every time, “You could wake up in the morning and tell me you wanted to change your name to Donal Duck and it wouldn’t change a thing. You’d still be you”

“Ianto” Jack whispered the word as if it were a prayer

“I didn’t fall in love with your name” Ianto blinked rapidly, “I fell in love with you”

Now he had not been expecting that, “You’re really not going to ask?”

“If you wanted me to know you would have told me” Ianto shifted to his side as well so they could look at one another as they spoke, “I know there are things you cannot tell me but I trust you Jack Harkness”

Sniffing, Jack took Ianto’s hand in his own, needing to feel close to the other man, “I needed an alias, his was convenient”

“You don’t have to tell me” Ianto interrupted, he didn’t need to know. He knew Jack, he’d seen him at his best and his worst, nothing he could do would ever cause him to stop loving him because he trusted him to be a better man today than he was yesterday.

“And that is precisely why you deserve to know” Jack argued, of all his lovers Ianto was the only one who had never made demands of him, “I needed an alias and his was all too easy to take”

“What happened to him?” Ianto squeezed his hand gently when he didn’t speak for quite a while

Bringing their joint hands to his mouth, Jack pressed a kiss to Ianto’s knuckles, “He died, his plane went down the night after you met him”

“Oh”

That was all Ianto said and Jack watched with concern as his lover started to close himself off, “Ianto” he gripped his shoulder and pulled him close so that he could embrace him finally, “Ianto, talk to me”

After taking a few deep breathes Ianto shrugged his shoulders, “He never got to have his pint”

Confused but not belittling, Jack asked, “His pint?”

It was strange, Ianto thought as he pondered over what to tell his lover. Jack had been dead for centuries, he could hardly care what Ianto said about him now but to him everything was so fresh, he didn’t want to out the man even as he knew Jack would feel nothing but sympathy for him, “I don’t know if I can tell you”

“That’s okay” Jack reassured him, rubbing soothing circles into his back, “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to”

Ianto was quiet for a long time, so long in fact that Jack had thought he’d fallen asleep, “He kissed me” Ianto admitted quietly, startling Jack out of his dozing, “He stopped me from joining Owen and Tosh, he didn’t mean to but he did”

“He kissed you?!” Jack asked jealously, what gave people the right to kiss his lover without his permission, “And you didn’t stop him?”

“I tried” Ianto tensed in his hold and Jack knew right now was not the time to start a fight so he apologised

“Sorry, it’s just a bit of a shock, not that you aren’t extremely kissable”

“I felt bad for him, he didn’t have anyone. I sometimes forget just how lucky we were”

“Yeah right” Jack rolled his eyes, “Keeping our relationship a secret, having an affair while he were fighting in the Second World War and lets not forget how you slipped through a rip in time and space and ended up fifty odd years in the future” Jack pulled back so he could pin his lover with an unimpressed look, he added, “Speaking of which, you did it _again_. This is becoming something of a bad habit”

“Hardly my fault the rift likes to mess me about” Ianto grumbled, “Besides, I froze myself for you. I had to keep getting into that damn drawer, it was harder every time, I never knew if I was going to wake up again or not”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that” Jack said as it finally dawned on him that Ianto had been in the hub this entire time, ever since before he disappeared in the first place. It was enough to do your head in, “But I’m not sorry that I have you back”

“Can we finish this in the morning?” Ianto asked as he snuggled in closer to Jack, his own personal radiator, “Right now I just want to hold you”

“Of course” Jack agreed immediately, shuffling about a bit to get comfortable. He wasn’t going to sleep a wink tonight, he’d spend the whole time watching over Ianto to make sure he didn’t disappear again and wake him from the nightmares that would undoubtedly plague him after the day he’d day.

He wouldn’t have it any other way.


	30. Did I Stutter?

Scrunching up her nose, Gwen shuffled deeper under the covers and cracked an eye open to watch her boyfriend sleep soundly next to her with a small smile on her face. She knew today was going to be difficult, Jack was going to be mad at her for opening the rift without his permission but hopefully she could show him that she really had only meant to help. She had thought about the whole ordeal in depth once she got home yesterday and even she had been slightly shocked by her actions.

She didn’t know what had gotten into her, the consequences could have been cataclysmic and yet she just hadn’t cared yesterday and that worried her. Was she a danger to the team? She didn’t think she was but if she had been willing to do something as dangerous as opening the rift wide open then maybe she was…

“You know it's rude to stare” Rhys interrupted her thoughts, smiling over at her like she hung the moon and the stars

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes Gwen shuffled closer, “I thought telepathy would get you to make me a cuppa”

“What's it worth?” Rhys teased

“What do you want?” She shot back

“I'll draw you a diagram, shall I?” He kissed her before rolling out of bed

Gwen cocked her head to one side in appreciation, “Nice arse”

Giving it a little shake on his way out of the room Rhys shot her a wink and got on with making her a cuppa, rolling his eyes to himself when he heard her damn phone go off, “Don't answer it” he called from the other room but she did anyway, could be important

“Yeah” she muffled a yawn as she checked the time on her alarm clock

Unsurprisingly it was Jack, “You watching the news?”

-

Owen gnawed on his bottom lip nervously as he watched the news, this wasn’t good, not good at all. So much for having the day off with Dianne to go buy baby stuff, he had wanted to buy a crib dammit, “Owen?” She came to sit with him with a soft frown, tapping his lip to remind him not to chew on it so hard, “What is it?”

In response he just turned the volume up on his TV, _“There's speculation that the incidents overnight may be linked. Initial reports suggested terrorist involvement, but this morning some intelligence experts have claimed the incidents may be a stunt. The first sightings were of UFOs over the Taj Mahal in India. They came in just after midnight. In London this morning, there were reports of men in historic dress firing upon police. Some religious groups are claiming events overnight are a vindication of their teachings.”_

“Do you think it is terrorists?” Dianne asked with concern as she unconsciously rubbed her pregnant stomach

“Terrorists bomb things” Owen shook his head, “This is different.”

-

Jack hadn’t realised he was falling asleep until he woke with a jolt, the bed was empty and the sheets were cold, “Ianto?” He called out, sliding out of bed he managed to get all the way downstairs before stumbling over his own feet in his groggy state, “Ianto?!”

“Livingroom!” Came his reply and Jack let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding, practically jumping on top of his lover in his haste to make sure he was alright, “Jack?”

“You weren’t in bed, I was worried” Jack admitted as he let him go, choosing to sit on his lap though instead of on the sofa next to him, “I didn’t realise I was falling asleep, did you have anymore nightmares?”

“A couple” Ianto cleared his throat, anxious to change the subject, “I saw that you were asleep though and came down here so I didn’t disturb you”

“Idiot” Jack grumbled affectionally, pressing a kiss to his hairline, “I don’t need sleep”

“Just like you don’t need to eat regular meals or someone else to iron your shirts” Ianto’s smirk slipped from his lips momentarily as he watched Jack snatch the television remote from the coffee table, watching wearily as he turned the screen on.

Watching out of the corner of his eye, Jack still thought it was hilarious that Ianto didn’t trust the TV. He decided to be kind though and just flicked the news on, _“-People didn't believe us. Now they should. Judgment day is finally here. This is the End of Days”_

They both straightened up and locked eyes, “Time to get to work?” Ianto asked

“Oh yeah, I’ll call Gwen, you call in the others” Jack ran a hand through his hair, so much for morning sex

-

Tosh was the first one into the hub that morning, being the one who lived closest and immediately got to work, running profiles on every reported temporal anomaly and had almost finished tracking the temporal pattern by the time Jack and Ianto came breezing in like the power couple they were.

It was a talent, she thought to herself as she watched them work together wordlessly in tandem, it was a privilege to watch them dance around each other like they had done his a thousand times when she knew under the surface Jack was already frazzled and Ianto would be triple guessing every single piece of information he came across.

The quiet was short lived though as Owen and Gwen came tearing into the hub like a hurricane of madness, they weren’t sure what was going on but they all knew it couldn’t be anything good.

“And I heard but did not understand, and I said, Master, what is the End of all these things? And he said, go, Daniel, for the things are closed up and sealed until the end of time. Daniel 12, verse 10.” Ianto read out causing Owen to give him a double take from where he was stood fiddling with Jack’s weird hand in a jar that had been on the blink since Tosh had gotten in that morning

“Where the hell did you find a bible?” He asked, trying to lighten the mood, “Carry one around with you? Is this a 40’s thing I don’t know about?”

“Sounds a bit close for comfort” Gwen interrupted before Ianto could snipe back at the idiot, reaching out with a curious expression for the bible which Ianto handed over graciously

“Sorry, don't let me stop your portents of doom. Or have you finished?” Owen kept trying to get a rise out of him

Ianto just snorted, by now he knew Owen responded to stress with acidic barbs, “No, plenty more where that came from. Gwen?”

“Abaddon, the Great Devourer, who'll lead the world into shadow” she read out slowly

Crossing his arms, Jack gave them all an unimpressed look, “Yeah, thanks, Gwen. I can do without the superstition” he resisted the urge to roll his eyes, “You people love any story that denies the randomness of existence”

“Thanks. That makes me feel better” Ianto on the other hand rolled his eyes freely, “Okay, I've been fielding calls all morning. The government, UNIT, the CIA. Half the Western world and a good proportion of the Eastern are all asking the same question. Is this anything to do with us?”

“And is it?” Gwen asked

Tosh took the opportunity to jump in, “I've run a profile on every reported temporal anomaly and tracked any physical or temporal pattern” she pointed to her screen where red lines were all tracing back to one point 

Owen sighed and scratched the back of his head, “Shit”

“Quite” Ianto agreed

Jack moved closer to get a better look at what they were dealing with, “The cracks in time trace back here to the Rift. This city, this Hub, is the centre. What you're seeing around the world are ripples and aftershocks.” He shot a glare at Gwen, “The Rift is splintering because of you”

“What?” Surely all this couldn’t be her fault, she had only opened the rift for a moment or two

Temper flaring, Jack clenched his fists by his side in attempt to calm down, “You opened the Rift without knowing what you were doing.” He accused not caring if he what he was saying upset her, “You've caused the temporal cracks to widen. Time is seeping through.”

Gwen’s stubborn side was rearing its head though as she grabbed the stag by his antlers, “If it wasn't for me, the rest of the team would still be in the 1940s”

“Ianto didn’t make it” Owen just had to point out, “Him decided to go all ice queen on us had nothing to do with your decision to open the rift, really you only got me and Tosh back here”

“Who’s side are you on?!” Gwen argued while Ianto stood off to the side mouthing ‘ice queen’ to himself as he tried to figure out if it was an obscure reference he didn’t understand or a derogatory name to call him in relation to his sexuality. 

He never did get to the bottom of it though as Jack took over and started giving orders, “Enough! Bring those who've fallen through time back here, into the vaults”

“And do what with them?” Owen asked, not too keen on the idea of babysitting a bunch of cavemen

Jack waved his concerns away though without giving him a proper answer in that enraging way he does, “We'll deal with phase one first, then I'll tell you about phase two”

Ianto watched the others jump and follow Jack’s orders, only once he was sure they were out of earshot did he approach his lover nervously, he didn’t want to question him but they didn’t have a plan, “You can't control time” he told him softly, “You can't send them back. What are you gonna do?”

“We'll think of something” Jack said stubbornly, forcing a reassuring smile when Ianto looked distressed, “Hey,” he reached for his hand, “this is not the end of the world. I'm certain of that.”

The moment was ruined though when a screen beeped next to them, “Priority one attendance at the hospital” Ianto sighed, pulling his hand away, “Mortality rate's gone through the roof. They're sealing off the area and designating a hot zone”

“I'll go” Owen volunteered, hospitals were his territory

Jack seemed to be thinking along the same lines and jerked his head in Gwen’s direction, “Take Gwen with”

Grimacing Owen declined, “No thanks, I'm fine on my own”

“And you'll be even better with me alongside” Gwen bumped him on the shoulder as she walked by, “Shut up and come on” looks like he was on babysitting duty then

Not long after they left Jack watched Ianto answer the phone across the hub while he was supposed to be trying to come up with a solution with Tosh, his lover didn’t seem too worried but his poker face was a tough one to crack, “Who was that?” He asked trying to look like he hadn’t been staring at him, wanting for him to hang up. If the unimpressed look Ianto was giving him was anything to go by he hadn’t succeeded.

“PC Davidson, said he had something for us down at the station” Ianto said as he grabbed his jacket, “Sounded important, we should go sooner rather than later”

“And where do you think you’re going?” Jack asked as Ianto started walking towards the door

Genuinely confused, Ianto nodded towards the cogwheel, “The station?”

“I’ll go, you stay here where its safe”

“Jack-”

“No!” Jack snapped, “I’m in charge, you will do as I say and stay put”

“But-”

“Did I stutter?” Jack repeated himself, “Stay put”

Eyes darting back and forth between Jack and Tosh, Ianto flushed with embarrassment and swallowed down past the lump in his throat, “Yes sir”

“Tosh, keep an eye on him while I’m out” Jack grabbed his own coat, not seeing the damage he was doing as he waked out without a second glance, “I’ll handle this on my own”


	31. Roman Soldiers, Black Plauge and Scheming Pensioners

Down at the isolation unit everyone was rushing about manically in hazmat suits, most of their arms full of supplies Owen recognised all too well from his time working in hospitals. Taking charge he strode down the ward confidently with Gwen following close behind him, he flagged down a doctor and decided it was about time to get some answers, “This was the first one to die. NO ID on her. She just appeared in the middle of A & E. Nobody saw her come through the doors, she didn't register at the desk.” The doctor explained

“So what happened?” Gwen winced as she watched Owen get a little too close to the body for her liking, she didn’t want him getting sick

The doctor shifted from foot to foot, “She started coughing up blood. We moved her into isolation immediately. An hour or so later, the staff started presenting similar symptoms”

“Which were?” Owen couldn’t see a chart anywhere so it looks like the only answers he was going to get were from this guy, “I need details”

“Bite-like bumps on the skin,” the man listed, “chills, fever, headaches, along with black patches on the skin”

“Indicating bleeding into the skin and possibly other organs” Owen followed

The doctor nodded in agreement before carrying on, “From the staff, it started spreading to other patients who'd been in reception when she came in”

Taking another closer look at the body Gwen noticed something strange, “These aren't contemporary clothes”

Owen grunted, “Her teeth aren't exactly modern style, either” this was worse than he thought, “Shit”

The doctor scrambled to save his own skin, “As soon as we realised the rate of infection, we closed down the whole area-”

Owen didn’t have time for that though, they could handle the politics later for now he had a job to do, “How many others are infected?”

“Thirty,” the doctor bit his lip, “maybe forty”

“All quarantined off?” Gwen asked as she looked around the room, feeling very underdressed without a hazmat suit to protect her

“We think so”

Owen clapped his hands together and got down to business, “Then have their clothes and their sheets destroyed immediately”

Sensing Owen knew more than he was letting on, Gwen pulled him back a little and whispered, “What is it?”

“That woman,” he pointed at her dead body, “isn't from this century. More like the fourteenth. It's the fucking Black Death, Gwen. She's infected Cardiff A & E with the plague. And it's your fault”

“I did this to protect _you_! I opened the rift to save my friends”

Owen cast another hopeless looks round the ward and shook his head, “You should have just left us there”

“You can’t mean that” Gwen swallowed back tears, the team were her family, she would do anything for them 

The Doctor interrupted them reluctantly, “The team are instigating procedures”

Snapping to attention, Owen nodded stiffly, “The infected will need thirty milligrams of Streptomycin and Chloramphenicol plus two of Tetracycline”

“That's plague medicine” the doctor said with confusion, “Standard issue for bubonic” 

“Well done, House. That's what you're up against” Owen gave him his best ‘I know what I’m doing look’ and sniffed, “We need to leave. You're a hospital, you've got procedures, haven't you?”

“Yes,” the doctor looked panicked at the very idea of being left alone to clean up the mess, “but everybody said Torchwood would sort it out. What if we get more carriers appearing out of the blue?”

“Well we're working to stop that” Owen told him vaguely 

The doctor seemed pissed though, “We waited for you! You've got to stop this! You've gotta do something!”

Nearing the end of his tether, Owen snapped, “No, _you've_ gotta do something. People are dropping through time and they are going to bring every disease in history through your doors. So you'd better be ready”

“Owen” Gwen warned him as she saw the doctor starting to freak out

“You scared enough yet?” He asked the doctor, “Cos fuck knows I am. Come on, Gwen”

“Make sure they get the medicine. Call us if things get worse” Gwen told him awkwardly, not really sure what to do as Owen started to walk away

The doctor just glared at her though and Gwen was starting to get fed up of being blamed for everything when all she had tried to do was help, “How much worse can they get?”

-

Jack had calmed down a little by the time he had reached the station but felt no remorse in confining Ianto to the hub, his lover was too weak from his little iceman stunt to be doing anything strenuous and he would be dammed if he was going to lose him to the rift a third time. He was safe back there so there he would stay, “I’m here to see PC Davidson” Jack marched up to the reception desk expectedly 

“Do you have an appointment?” The receptionist asked him in a slow bored tone that immedialty rubbed him with wrong way

“As a matter of fact-”

“Harkness, there you are. Where’s the sensible bloke I spoke to on the phone?” Andy asked as he rushed over looking dead on his feet already and it was barely noon

“That _bloke_ has a name, Ianto is back at the base. I can handle this” Jack unconsciously puffed up his chest a bit, “What have you got for me?”

Andy seemed past caring at the moment though and didn’t put up much of a fight, leading Jack down to the cells, “Listen, I didn't know who else to call” he explained, “Double murder. Stabbed two blokes in Penarth. Brutal, it was. No mercy. What are we supposed to do? He doesn't speak a word of English, and he's dressed as a bloody Roman soldier”

Jack took a peek in and silently cursed all the paperwork he knew this was going to create, “He's not dressed as a Roman soldier, he is a Roman soldier and he's shouting in Latin.”

Andy shrugged, “Only word I could pick out was Gelligaer”

“Gellig _aer_ ” Jack corrected without thinking, he could remember visiting Rome with the Doc and Rose before… well, before, “There's a Roman fort out at Gelligaer. Built around 75AD”

“Right” Andy gave him a strange look

Jack took another look and nodded to himself, “So, he was on his way there, time splintered, and he ends up here” he was just about to ask Ianto his opinion when Andy waved his hand in front of him

“Excuse me? Hi. Any time you feel like talking sense”

Oh, right… Ianto was back at the hub, of course, “That soldier came through a crack in time”

“You’re not serious, are you? This sort of thing just doesn't happen, not in Cardiff” Andy scoffed

“Just because you can't understand it, doesn't mean it isn't true” Jack shot back, “I’ll take him off your hands” Under any other circumstances, an exuberant Roman soldier would be his idea of a perfect morning but right now he just wanted everything to slow the fuck down so he had the time to deal with one problem at a time. He should know by now that he rarely ever gets his way.

-

Trying to save face after such a humiliating not to mention public dressing down, Ianto grit his teeth and got stuck into his work. There was plenty he could be getting on with at the hub where Jack had just pointed out he belonged, with all the action lately he had forgotten his place it seems. He wasn’t sure what Tosh was doing at her own computer and Jack hadn’t exactly given him clear instructions so Ianto decided to use his initiative.

Gwen had said she opened the rift yesterday, if he could look back through the CCTV and see exactly what she had done maybe he could find a way to reverse it. Then again maybe that was a huge waste of time and he should be doing something else? Screw it, he trusted his gut instinct and opened up the correct files, watching the feed at double speed unit something caught his eye, “Hello” he mumbled to himself as he rewound the footage and zoomed in to see closer, “What do we have here?”

It was only there for a second, a mere flicker but it was something. Slowing the image down further Ianto froze it at the exact moment the missing piece of the rift manipulator appeared. There, right there, “Tosh!” He called out over his shoulder, “Come look at this” he was pretty sure pensioners shouldn’t be teleporting in and out of the hub without raising the alarms, much less so if they were delivering missing pieces of technology beyond their comprehension

But Toshiko wasn’t in the main hub, in fact she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The main hub was abandoned, her chair was empty and there was no sign of the computer genius. Ianto slowly got to his feet and stalked over to Gwen’s desk to grab her spare gun he knew she kept in the third drawer down, if someone had manage to get in and out of the hub before they could easily do it again, he would never forgive himself if something had happened to Toshiko while he was sat right there paying her no attention. How long had she been missing? He should have noticed sooner

“Okasan?” Ianto startled when he heard a voice coming from the entrance to the cells, it sounded like Toshiko but he couldn’t be sure, maybe he had just blown this whole thing out of proportion? The voice continued talking as he got closer but it wasn’t speaking in English. It sounded like Japanese but might as well have been an alien dialect for all he could understand it

“Toshiko?” He whispered, pushing the door open with his foot, gun raised in front of him in steady hands

“Ianto?!” She asked, spinning around with a guilty look on her face, “Put the gun down, its just me”

“Who were you talking to?” He asked suspiciously, lowering the weapon but only slightly as he took a look around

“No one, sorry I came down here because I thought I heard something” she put a hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him, “Did you find something?”

“Oh, yeah” Ianto tucked the gun into the back of his trousers and gestured for her to follow him, “Looks like someone got past our security yesterday, you should take a look”

“Sure thing” She smiled sweetly, only glancing over her shoulder when he turned around but her mother was nowhere to be seen, she’d vanished into thin air. What had she meant by the darkness, what was coming?


	32. Rodger Spartacus

When Jack returned to the hub carting what appeared to be a roman solider over his shoulder, Ianto put aside his feelings and decided to help, he could be angry with Jack for humiliating him in front of Tosh later when the world wasn’t ending, “Has anyone else come through?” Jack grunted as Ianto helped him take their guest down to the cells

“Sort of,” Ianto hid a wince as his leg complained, see this was exactly why Jack thought he couldn’t be trusted in the filed, he was a bloody liability with his damn leg, “I found something else, though, didn’t you think to ask Gwen where she found the missing piece to the rift manipulator?”

“I was a bit preoccupied defrosting you!” Jack snapped, “Cut to the chase”

Temper flairing, Ianto bit back a sarcastic response and did as he was told, “Someone teleported into the hub and left it where she could find it. Tosh is trying to clear up the image from the CCTV as we speak, _Sir_ ”

Surprised by the formal title, Jack ran his eyes up and down Ianto, what was his problem? He could handle Ianto’s dramatics later, “Lets take a look then” By the time they had returned to the main hub, Owen and Gwen had rejoined them, “How was the hospital?”

“Laugh a bloody minute” Owen grumbled, “They've got an outbreak of the Black Death” 

Tosh looked up from her computer to see if Owen was trying to make a joke, “What?” He looked serious, “Oh my God”

Jack didn’t let on how much that worried him, “Have they got it under control?” He asked, trying to get Owens attention off his phone, “Owen! How are they coping?”

Finishing his text to Dianne quickly, “Er, we got the place quarantined and organised treatments for those who've been infected” Owen scratched the back of his head, “Only consolation is, it's treatable these days. But, you know, what happens when the next carrier comes through, Jack? Someone carrying smallpox or Ebola or something from the future we don't even know about yet? What do we do then?”

Jack didn’t have any answers to give him though, he was still half holding out for the Doc to come and save them, surely this was a big enough catastrophic to warrant his involvement, even if it wasn’t his Doc. One of them had to turn up sooner or later, “Yeah, well, it's not doing us any good standing around speculating”

Gwen’s jaw dropped, “We need to be prepared” she didn’t care if they all thought this was her fault, she had only been trying to help and if they continued like this nothing good was going to happen, “We're helpless. All we're doing here is putting sticking plasters on gaping wounds”

“What do you suggest?” Jack snapped

Gwen didn’t back down though, “I suggest you lead us and you tell us what the instructions are!”

“Gwen” Ianto warned her when he saw a dangerous glint in his lovers eyes, she needed to take a step back or she was going to get hurt

“No Ianto, I’m not afraid of him!” Gwen crossed her arms, “There are scarier things outside those doors than a pissed off Captain”

“Gwen stop” 

Ianto went to physically place himself as a buffer between them but Gwen just kept going, “No, come on. You're all thinking it too. You're the big man here. You keep all the secrets. Well, now's the time to tell us a few and tell us how the hell we'll get out of this.”

Jack took a menacing step forward, the only thing keeping him from reaching her being Ianto who even in his rage he wouldn’t harm, “You want to know a secret? There is no solution. I can't fix this. Because this was never meant to happen. The first thing you learned when you joined Torchwood was don't mess with the Rift. But you disobeyed those orders, and now everything that's happening is down to you”

“Jack, she was only trying to help” Tosh tried to calm him down, “You don’t need to be so harsh”

Gwen just kept digging though, “I only disobeyed instructions to get them back”

Throwing his arms out wide, Jack shouted, “And now people are dying!”

“What, so I shouldn't have bothered?” Gwen shouted back

“I told you Gwen, you should have left us back there” Owen chipped in

“Stop!” Ianto thundered, startling everyone into silence, Ianto never raised his voice but right now he looked furious, “You are all acting like _children_! Arguing isn’t getting us anywhere so you all need to grow the hell up and start acting like Torchwood Agents”

“You cant talk to me like that” Jack warned him

“Oh yeah?” Ianto squared up to him, “Try me Jackson, I’ll treat you with respect once you’ve earned it back” Ianto glared at him, chin raised waiting for the blow up he knew was coming. He was done being a doormat, he might not have joined Torchwood by choice, he might not have craved the action but hell, he was involved now so he would be dammed if he didn’t sort it out.

Confused, hurt and beyond angry Jack glared at Ianto and took a step back, “If that’s how you feel then why don’t you just go? You seemed to have problem leaving before, first you abandoned Lisa and then you abandoned me”

Jack regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth but it was too late to take them back, Ianto looked like he’d slapped him but in many ways it would have been less painful if he had, “We don’t have time for this” Ianto’s breathing hitched as he tried to stay in control, “We need to figure out who breached the hub and left Gwen the missing piece of the rift manipulator. He’s our only lead”

“I cleared the picture up but I don’t recognise him” Tosh said softly when silence rang out, enlarging the image to show the team

“That’s the caretaker from the Ritz” Gwen blurted out surprising them all

Snapping out of his horrified trance, Jack cleared his throat and vowed to fix thing later, “Are you sure it was the same guy?”

“Positive” Gwen nodded, “But how did he manage to get inside the hub”

“Bilis Manger,” Tosh said to herself as she typed away at her computer, “Found him, looks like he owns a shop in town. Maybe someone should pay him a visit?”

“I’ll go,” Jack looked around at his team, “Owen with me, Tosh you’re in charge until I come back. Do everything you can to contain the problem” his eyes lingered on Ianto for a moment before he decided now was not the time, they could talk it all through later

“Thank you” Tosh whispered to Ianto once Jack was out of earshot

“What for?” Ianto whispered back feeling cold and empty inside

Tosh nibbled on her bottom lip as she considered her next words, “For being the best of us, for keeping us on track”

“Well,” Ianto huffed, “Someone needs to remind Jack to take his head out of his own arse every so often”

“What he said about-”

“I don’t want to talk about it” he cut her off gently but firmly, “Shall I take Gwen down with me to the cells to see how much space we have left?”

“Sure, I can do my work from up here” Tosh nodded, “Gwen?” She called out, “You and Ianto need to check the cells”

“One minute, I’ll catch up” Gwen gestured to her phone which has Rhys on the other end, “I’m just warning my boyfriend not to leave the flat”

“Don’t take too long” Ianto warned her before walking down to the cells which were full of a wide range of both displaced humans and aliens, “Oh, so you’re awake now” he said as he passed the shouting Roman soldier

A noise from behind startled him and Ianto turned to see someone he had never thought he’d get the chance to talk to again, “Hello Ianto”

“Lisa!” He choked as he drank the sight of her in, not daring to blink in case she disappeared. She was dressed in her Sunday best, the dress with the little sunflowers embroidered along the hem and those shoe’s she adored that had cost him a small fortune, “Why are you here? This can’t be happening”

Lisa smiled at him, oh he had missed that smile, “There's only one way to stop this, before things get worse. People will die, Ianto. Thousands of people, unless you open the Rift”

“Lisa-” he blinked and she was gone, “No! Lisa come back! I-”

“Ianto?” Gwen scared the seven hells out of him, “What’s wrong? Who were you speaking to?”

“Uh…” his eyes darted to the left, “Rodger, the roman soldier”

“You named him?” Gwen asked with a smile, “What, not Spartacus?”

“Give me some credit, originality is half the fun. Come on we’ve got to check how much space we have left” he couldn’t tell her he saw Lisa, she’d think he was crazy but something was off about this. He couldn’t put his finger on it but something wasn’t adding up and he had learnt a long time ago to trust his gut

-

“Okay, guys, Bilis's shop is coming up twenty metres on your left.” Tosh told them through coms and Owen read the sign above the door, ‘a stitch in time, timepieces repaired and refurbished.’ Of course it was, as if this situation wasn’t ominous enough as it was

“So, whats our play?” Owen asked before they entered the shop

“Our play?” Jack raised an eyebrow, “Find the guy, get our answers”

Before Owen could argue that his plan was stupid, Jack had pushed the door open and swaggered through it, “Pillock” Owen grumbled under his breath before following his lead, if Jack got himself killed or displaced in time that was on him, “Wow” he blinked in awe despite himself, “Some of this stuff must go back centuries”

Jack smirked to himself as he recognised the con, he’d done stuff like this himself back when he was with the agency, “He scavenges antique pieces from the past, brings them here, sells them for a profit. Not a bad business plan” 

“We all have to earn a living” a silky voice joined from behind the desk, Bilis stood there like he hadn’t just appeared out of thin air, “I’m sorry Owen”

“Sorry? For what? Hang on” Owen stared at the man like he was a particularly difficult crossword puzzle, “You're from 1941, I saw you at the dance. You took our picture” how hadn’t he recognised him before now?

Bilis smiled like a shark and nodded his head, “Hello, again”

“How can you be in two time zones at once?” Owen thought it was bullshit this guy could apparently jump back and forth while it took almost tearing the rift in half to get him and Tosh back, even then Ianto had been left behind and had to go the long way round

“I can step across eras, like you'd walk into another room” Bilis inclined his head, “At first, it was the most incredible gift. Now I know the reality. It's a curse”

Owen rolled his eyes, “Yeah, it sounds like it” poor guy had superpowers, how awful

“I can see the whole of history, but I don't belong anywhere within it” Bilis shot him a dark look, “So, your return to this time had a price. Time's splintering. This city exists on a Rift in time. The only way to make it right is to fully open that Rift, let it suck back what fell through”

Jack decided it was about time he stepped him, “No way. It's too dangerous”

Owen frowned as he thought it over, “Can we even do that?” Jack hadn’t had any qualms about keeping stuff rom them before, why would he now?

“Of course you can” Bilis looked overjoyed, “Isn't that right, Captain?”

Grabbing Owens arm he made the other man look at him, he had to be very clear about this, “Owen, you've seen what happened. If we open that Rift fully, millions of lives will be at risk”

“And yet,” Bilis drawled, “if you don't, more will fall through. Lives will be lost”

Jack, having had enough, pulled out his Webly and pointed it at Bilis, “You're coming back with us”

Bilis didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest as he smiled at them coldly, “I'm sorry” and vanished

Fuck, he should have seen that coming, Jack beat himself up, “Damn it. Trace the temporal activity around this location. We need to find out where he is. Come on”

Jack left but Owen paused at the doorway when he heard all the clocks sounding the hour which they shouldn’t be, “Owen, I am not your enemy”

“Before I recognised you” Owen didn’t rust this guy as far as he could throw him but something was urging him to keep going, “Why did you say you were sorry?”

Bilis shrugged, “Sometimes it's better to live in ignorance, unless. Do you really want to know?”

“No,” _yes_ , he thought, “Know what?”

“Hold my hands. I'll show you” Bilis extended his hands with an expectant look but Owen just scoffed and raised his own gun, “Now now Dr Harper, there is no need for that” he licked his fingers and Owens gun disappeared, “Now I wont offer again” he held out his hand once more as if daring Owen to reject it

“Why should I?” Owen balled his hands into fists at his side

Bilis seemed to have been waiting for him to ask and took great pleasure in saying two words, just two words that turned Owen’s world upside down in an instance, “Dianne Holmes”

He didn’t even think, Owen just snatched Bilis’ hand and screwed the consequences. He was unceremoniously dumped back in his flat, his empty silent flat with bloody handprints on the wall and Dianne bleeding out on the floor, dying in a pool of her own blood, “Dianne?” He croaked, falling to his knees next to her, rage and heartbreak clawing at his throat as he tried to stop the bleeding even though deep down he knew it was too late. Her pregnant stomach was slashed deep and he knew who was responsible, “Bilis” he snarled with tears welling up in his eyes but when he tied it blink them away he was back in the shop holding hands with the man that had destroyed his whole world

“I’m sorry” the fucker had the audacity to apologise after that?

Owen grabbed him by his stupid fucking cravat and slammed him against the wall, “What the fuck did you just show me?!”

Bilis winked, “The future” and disappeared again


	33. Jittery Trigger Finger

Jack looked over his shoulder as he heard Owen sprinting towards him, “What took you so long” only he didn’t stop, he just kept going, “Owen? Owen!”

Owen didn’t respond as he left Jack in his dust, later he would tell you he had no recollection of running back to his flat, he claimed he couldn’t remember tearing up the stairs to his penthouse because he had no patience to wait for the lift but what he would tell you was the deep seated relief he felt when he slammed through his front door to see Dianne sat on his sofa folding baby’s clothes, “Owen?” She looked up at him in delighted surprise, “I thought you said you had to go into work today?”

“Dianne” he crumpled to the floor in front of her breathing hard as he first checked her stomach before kissing her softly on the cheek, “You’re alright”

“Of course I’m alright, you on the other hand…” she tilted his chin up with her finger, “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost”

“Listen, we've got to go” Owen stood up suddenly even as his over taxed legs protested and helped Dianne to her feet

Displeased but smart enough to know Owen wasn’t larking about, Dianne followed him to the door and pulled on her shoes, “Why, what's happened?”

“We've got to go, that's all” Owen kept glancing down at her stomach and Dianne sensed it wasn’t in his usual doting fashion, something had scared him, “Please”

“Okay Owen” Dianne trusted this man with her life, he had been nothing but kind to her since she arrived, he had helped her so much, “Lets go then”

It had been a while since Dianne had visited the hub but she had to admit Ianto ran a tight ship, the place was sparkling in comparison to how she had last seen it and she didn’t hesitate to tell him so. Not that he seemed to hear her as he rushed about doing god knows what, she wasn’t even sure why she was still here, “Toshiko” she caught her attention as she walked by holding some sort of alien gizmo, “Could you show me where the ladies are?” Pregnancy had seemingly turned her bladder into the size of a pea

“Of course, this way” she gestured, leading her down a corridor until they reached an unmarked door, “Do you want me to wait for you?”

“I wont get lost walking ten feet back to the sofa” Dianne smiled at the shy woman and watched her hurry off back to work, she liked Tosh she was very sweet, she knew Owen had a soft spot for the woman as well even if he would rather die than admit it.

Back in the medical bay, Ianto was stood helping Owen try and organise his files into order of most importance, he could only deal with one rift dump at a time, “I still can't understand how Bilis was able to show you that vision” Ianto contemplated as he shuffled papers about, looking for anything that linked them

Owen spared him a glance before shrugging, he didn’t want to think about it, “It was so real. I was in my flat. It smelt like my flat. It had all the sounds of my flat. I touched the blood. I can still feel it on my hands. Dianne's blood.”

“I wouldn’t dwell on it” Ianto forced a tired smile, “Its not going to happen, she’s safe here. Come on, there's still work to be done.” no sooner had the words left his mouth did the emergency lighting flicker on to accompany the warning sirens that had started blaring at top volume

“What's going on?” Owen yelled over to Tosh

“We've got a security breach” she told him

As Jack and Gwen were out on another retrieval, Ianto took it upon himself to be the voice of reason once more, “All right, nobody panic”

“Where’s Dianne?”

In the toilets, Dianne was washing her hands when the door swung open. An old man she didn’t recognise walked in and just stared at her, “Oh hello, do you work here? I'm Dianne Holmes, Owen brought me in”

The man took a menacing step forward and pulled a curved knife out of thin air, he lunged forward with it before Dianne even had the chance to assess the situation and stabbed her deeply in the chest, once, twice and dealt a third and final blow to her heart. She was dead before she even hit the ground. 

Bilis didn’t hang around for long, as soon as Toshiko got the lights back up he strolled out of the toilets knife in hand and vanished with a wink in Owen’s direction, “Bilis!” He growled, stalking forward until he reached the doorway, the sound of his shoe landing in something wet had him looking down to see they pool of blood, “No!” He cried as he slammed the door open, falling to his knees by the side of Dianne’s dead body, “No!” He checked desperately for a pulse but found nothing, “She's gone. She's gone. No, please, no. Please. No. Please. We can, we can bring her back”

Tosh and Ianto shared a look over Owens head, there was nothing they could do, “Owen,” Tosh put a hand on his arm and tried to pull him away, “It’s too late”

“There's nothing we can do” Ianto said in an equally soft tone, his own eyes pooling with tears as he looked at Dianne, she had been his friend, someone he could bitch with about the modern world, he had been getting some cooking lessons off her to surprised Jack with but now she was gone, snuffed out in the blink of an eye

“Yes, there is” Owen sobbed looking every piece the broken man he was, “Dianne! What am I going to do? What am I going to do? No! No!”

-

When Jack returned to the hub, having left Gwen to talk to the witnesses, he wasn’t expecting to find Ianto sat cleaning blood off Owen’s hands as Tosh covered Dianne’s dead body with a white sheet, “What the hell happened?”

“Jack” Ianto hissed as Owen continued to sob quietly, “Not now”

“This is what happens here” Owen sounded empty, “We all end up alone. Not me. Not again. No way. You bring her back to me”

“No” Jack shook his head, he wasn’t sure hat had happened while he’d been out but people didn’t just come back from the dead, bar him

Owen stared at the floor, “The Resurrection gauntlet”

“Was destroyed” Jack reminded him

“We've got to have something else.” Owen insisted

Jack stood his ground, “I said no”

“No,” Owen was desperate, “there's something wrong with time, so er, we, we can go back to the moment, to the very moment-” 

“Owen-” 

“There's something you can do, otherwise what's the fucking point of you!” Owen lashed out at him, slamming him into the wall, “You, you bring her back! Bring her back. You bring her back. Do you understand me, Jack fucking Harkness! I brought your toy boy back enough times now repay the favour!”

Jack grabbed his arms and pulled him in for a hug, not letting him go even as he struggled, “I'm sorry”

“Oh, shit. What happened?” Looks like Gwen was back, “Owen? Are you all right?”

“Take a wild fucking guess” he snarled as he finally managed to push Jack off him, “How many other people have got to suffer? I'm gonna fix this. I'm opening the rift”

Ianto blocked his way and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, “You can’t Owen, I know how much you want to but we cannot open the Rift” something was seriously wrong here, ghosts appearing out of thin air, his friends acting out of character, time splintering all around them. Something larger was at play here, he just didn’t know what.

“Yeah? Who do you think you are Ianto? You’re nothing but a fucking stress relief for the Captain, the only reason you’re still here is so he doesn’t have to go out on the pull every night”

“Owen, stop it” Tosh pushed past Ianto and grabbed his arm, pulling the broken man away and up the stairs

Jack ran a hand through his hair as he watched Gwen follow them, “Make sure you stop them” 

“No” Gwen turned on the top step, “This is all my fault, I’m going to fix it and help him”

“Have you all lost your minds?!” Jack thundered as he raced up after them, Ianto hot on his heels

“Bilis was right” Owen was in near hysterics, “He said open the Rift and everything goes back to normal. I'm going to get Dianne back.” His eyes were crazed, that might be Owen’s voice but the man inside wasn’t the one talking. Jack knew Owen would never take this risk, something was wrong.

“Owen-” Ianto took a step forward

“No!” He snapped

“Owen! Would you just listen to me for one-” Ianto fell silent immediately as Owen pulled a gun on him, in his current state of mind he didn’t know what Owen was capable of but what he did know was that being shot hurt and he wasn’t keen to repeat the experience 

“Enter Emergency Protocol One” Owen told Tosh who was nearest the computer, his gun not wavering from where he had pointed it at Ianto’s head

“Lower the gun Owen” Jack’s stomach had dropped the moment Ianto was put in the firing line, he couldn’t let them open the rift but he honestly didn’t know which he would pick if it came down to it. Ianto Jones or the world, “Get away from the computer, Tosh”

“For once in your life Jackson, shut the fuck up” Ianto swore as he watched Owen’s jittery trigger finger

“This is a trap” Jack continued on as he tried to do something, anything to get Ianto as far away from that gun as possible, “All these cracks around the world, they're diversions. This is what Bilis wants.”

“Maybe I should shoot Ianto, then you’d change your tune” Owen snarled, “You would do anything to save your pity shag”

“Point the gun at me instead, let Ianto go” Jack pleaded, if Owen shot him he’d be fine, Ianto only had one life

“Doesn’t make any difference to me” Owen swung the gun to point at Jack as Tosh input the passwords behind him. He really shouldn’t have underestimated Ianto though as he reached behind and pulled his own gun from the back of his trousers

“Give it up Owen” Ianto warned, turning the safety off his gun

Tosh glanced over his her shoulder to see them pointing guns at one anther and paused her typing, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Keep going Tosh” Owen ordered, “You shoot me and I shoot him, Ianto” he threatened him

“Final warning” Ianto placed his finger on the trigger, “Have you ever shot someone Owen? Ever killed a man? I have, countless or have you forgotten I fought in the war, I killed men younger than you, I killed men worth ten of you and they were Nazi’s”

“I've got to get Dianne back” Owen’s hand began to shake, “We're relieving you of your command, Captain. We're opening that Rift and getting back what we lost.”

“Put the goddamn gun down Owen” Ianto took a step forward, if Owen shot Jack he would probably just come back but there was always the chance that he wouldn’t

Gwen hissed as she looked at the screen, “Shit we need Retina prints of all Torchwood Personnel”

“Stay down” Owen shook the gun in Jack’s face and Ianto lost it, shooting his mouth off before Jack even took in a breath

“You're in charge, Owen?” He scoffed taking another step forward, “You've gotta have significantly bigger balls.”

But Ianto had misjudged and would pay the price as Owen swung the barrel around in his direction and fired off a shot. Jack’s heart stopped as he watched his lover cry out and collapse, if Ianto hadn’t been in so much pain he dreads to think of what he would have done to Owen in that moment, “Ianto!” He hurled himself across the floor to his side and applied pressure to he bleeding wound on his shoulder, three inches left and he would be dead

“I'm sick of people doubting me” Owen muttered as his face drained of colour, his actions finally sinking in as Tosh started scanning their eyes, Gwen first then herself, then Owen.

Gwen watched Jack frantically working to stem the bleeding from Ianto’s shoulder and woke up, “What have you done?” She took the gun from Owen and approached her boss, “We should get him down to the med bay”

“Don’t touch him” Jack spat as Ianto grit his teeth and groaned out in pain

“We've still got to do Jack and Ianto’s” Tosh interrupted

“You’ll have to shoot me again before I’ll let you” Ianto ground out, glaring hatefully at Owen as Jack continued to apply pressure to his shoulder

“That can be arranged” Owen threatened him but there was no heat behind it, he looked like he was in shock, “He’s losing a lot of blood, the bullet went through?”

Jack checked the wound, “Yeah, Ianto I’m sorry this is going to hurt” he warned him before he picked him up, jostling the arm as little as he could but Ianto still shouted out in pain

Scrambling for the gun, Owen grabbed it and aimed it at Jack again, “Give us the retina scans and I’ll let you patch him up”

“And if I refuse?” Jack glared at him stonily, Ianto was loosing blood and fast, the longer they stood there arguing like muppets the worse off he was going to be

“Then I’ll shoot again but this time I won’t miss my mark”

Tosh and Gwen both wanted to step in but feared what Owen would do if they did, “Jack” Tosh warned him, “Maybe it’s for the best if you just do what he says, for Ianto’s sake”

Jack dithered for a moment before Ianto used his good arm to grab the front of his shirt, tears were streaming down his cheeks but he looked as determined as ever, “Don’t do it Jackson, I’m not worth the whole world”

Mind made up, Jack squared his shoulders and nodded, “You are to me,” he looked at Owen, “Come on, get this over with so I can treat him” he would burn up entire galaxies for the man in his arms, pull the moon down from the sky if he would only ask. He couldn’t lose him, not now, not ever. Getting Ianto’s scan was harder said than done though, Jack had whisked him down to the med bay and started bandaging him up immediately as Tosh started a blood transfusion to make up for the pint or so that he had lost bleeding out on the floor.

“Just open your fucking eyes before I shoot you again” Owen demanded

“Go ahead” Ianto sneered back, eyes firmly clamped shut

“Oh for fucks sake” Owen snapped, physically grabbing his head and forcing the eyelid open as Gwen held Jack back from intervening, “See that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Go to hell” Ianto spat at him

Tosh ran after Owen and helped him enter the prints into the computer, bypassing the warning sign that came up announcing the danger to the Torchwood infrastructure and hitting ‘Okay’. Ianto barely even heard the alarms sound all over the place as he was unceremoniously scooped up again and carted up the stairs, “Help me move him” Jack nodded to the bag of blood still feeding into Ianto’s arm and Gwen picked it up without a second thought, along with the bandages they had been using and the heavy duty painkillers she had seen Owen inject them with countess times

Around them, Ianto watched through a fuzzy lens as glass partitions shattered, Dianne’s body disappeared and they all ran out of the hub as it started to collapse around them. In his delusional state he thought this this really took messy and complicated to a whole new level.


	34. The Kind You Live For

Ianto figured he must have passed out at some point because one minute he was being carried out of the self destructing hub an the next he found himself in some backstreet off the side of the plass, “What’s going on?” He forced himself to concentrate

“We need to keep moving” Jack didn’t answer his question as he struggled to keep his grip, Ianto wasn’t fat by any means but he was a full grown man and can’t have been easy to carry

Owen bit his lip, “It's going to be all right, Jack. Everything is going to go back to normal”

He spoke too soon though as Bilis decided that this was the opportune moment to reappear, “From out of the darkness, he is come”

“Bilis” Owen snarled, reaching for the gun he no longer had

“What is he talking about?” Gwen asked

Bilis continued to smile creepily at them, “Son of the Great Beast, cast out before time, chained in rock and imprisoned beneath the Rift”

“What?” Gwen repeated

Bilis threw his arms up into the air and shouted, “All hail Abaddon, the Great Devourer, come to feast on life!”

“Well that can’t be good” Ianto murmured, looking around for any sign of this ‘great devourer’ and saw nothing, seconds ticked by and Ianto thought to himself he wouldn’t be surprised if a tumbleweed rolled past.

Bilis too was looking around, clearly confused before a smile graced his face once more, “He comes” a little late but none the less terrifying a huge horned beast rose from the ground and towered over everything, “The whole world shall die beneath his shadow” Every step set off alarms, people were running and screaming, falling dead when its shadow passed over them, “I look upon you, my god, and know my work is done”

Ianto didn’t want to say he told them so but he totally did, “How do we stop it?” He asked instead, “Any ideas Jack?”

“One” he said quietly as an unfamiliar look passed over his face, his grip on Ianto tightened as he made up his mind, “Just you get me to an open space” if he was going to do this he wanted to say goodbye in private

Ianto clutched his shoulder in pain as Jack drove off road in the SUV, he was still in agony but he could think clearly enough, “What’s the plan Jack?” He asked as they pulled to a stop in the middle of a small field a little way off from the town centre

“If Abaddon is the bringer of death, let's see how he does with me” Jack got out of the vehicle,”If he feeds on life, then I'm an all you can eat buffet”

“No, wait” Ianto slid out after him, a little dizzy but able to stand, the blood transfusion had helped but he was still a little low, “Jack no, wait!” He clutched the sleeve of his coat tightly in one hand and pulled him to a stop, “This could kill you”

“Well that’s sort of the plan” Jack tried to pull away as Abaddon destroyed a block of flats, “Ianto you need to get to safety.”

“Would you just-” 

“Get out of here. Go! Drive as fast as you can”

“Jackson Harkness you will be quiet and listen to me” Ianto snapped but it wasn’t the words that stopped him, it was the sound of pure and utter terror in his voice, “You were willing to let the world go to hell for me and I’ll be dammed if I don’t do the same for you”

“Ianto” Jack said softly, spoken as if a prayer, “I love you, don’t forget that. Ever, promise me”

“I love you too” Ianto pulled him closer as the world fell apart around them, those words never failing to bring a smile to his lips.

Jack held back tears as he closed the distance between them and gave Ianto a soft kiss, half heartedly smirking when Ianto chased his lips as he pulled away, “Forgive me” he whispered but before Ianto could ask what he meant, Jack pushed him back into the SUV and locked him inside. He couldn’t allow Ianto to interfere and get himself killed

“Jack!” Ianto pounded on the window as his lover walked away, “Jackson Harkness open this door right now!” He demanded but Jack wasn’t listening to him, bloody idiot was going to sacrifice himself

“Bring it on!” Jack shouted at the humongous, horned beast to attract its attention. Ianto couldn’t hear a lot of what he was shouting but he knew it was probably a mix of swearing and innuendo. He had to do something. He watched as Abaddon stepped across the river, his shadow looming towards Jack and got a stupid idea that just might work. It wouldn’t save the world but it might save Jack.

Jack closed his eyes as he watched the beast stagger towards him, arms outstretched ready to die but instead of feeling the cold cradle of death, he felt wind whoosh past him and heard the familiar sound of the SUV in high gear. No. Surely he wouldn’t…?

Snapping his eyes open, Jack felt his heart stop for the second time that day as he watched Ianto crash the SUV into Abaddon’s shins. What the hell was he thinking? The beast toppled over and landed with a heavy thump, Jack watched Ianto try and get the SUV to move again but the poor girl was wrecked. Running over, Jack glared through the window at a thankfully very much alive Ianto who just glared right back. He was about to berate the idiot for trying to run the beast over when Ianto’s face turned to one of horror, Jack barely had time to look over his shoulder before the outstretched claw of Abaddon cast a shadow over him.

He screamed in pain and fell to his knees, all pain was overwhelming, every inch of his skin felt like it was simultaneously melting off and freezing to his bones. Jack faintly heard the beasts roars over his own as it lapped up streams of his energy. The bringer of death let his hand fall and so did Jack.

No one can be quite sure how long Jack lay there dead as Ianto had blacked out as well, be it from blood loss or something else entirely but once he did wake up choking on his own breath the first though on his mind was Jack. You know, the idiot laying dead on the floor outside the SUV he had locked his lover inside?

Unable to do anything, Ianto had to sit and wait feeling like death warmed over until the team managed to trace the SUV and get them home.

-

“How’s Dianne?” Tosh asked as Owen joined her at the morgue doors where she was watching Ianto sit by Jack’s side. They hadn’t gotten a word out of him since they found them both and it was scaring her

“She’s fine, alive” Owen nodded, “Baby’s fine too, she’s staying at my flat”

“What do we do about…” Tosh trailed off but it was clear what she meant

“He's ice cold. No vital signs” Owen swallowed past the lump in his throat, “We let Ianto say goodbye and put him next to Suzie”

Tosh sniffed and wiped her eyes, “Is Ianto going to be okay?”

“No,” Owen answered honestly, “But we’re here to help him through this”

Over by Jack’s body, Ianto was waiting for that tell tail gasp, when Jack woke up he was going to slap him for putting him though this, or maybe he would kiss him… he could just do both, “I know you’re coming back to me” he whispered, “You have to” Jack not waking up wasn’t an option, it just wasn’t

He sat there in silence long after his legs went numb, ignoring all attempt to move him, Jack would want him there when he woke up. He wasn’t going to move, “Ianto” it was Tosh again, “Ianto you need to let Owen take a look at your shoulder” he didn’t respond, “Please Ianto”

Upstairs in the hub Gwen and Owen were watching on the CCTV, “How long's he gonna do this?” Owen asked

Not willing to tell Jack’s secret, Gwen shrugged, “How long would you have stayed at Dianne’s?”

Owen glared at her in response and stalked off, “Low blow” he muttered

Back in cold storage, Tosh crossed her arms, “Ianto It's been days,” she didn’t want to be cruel but if he carried on like this he’d be in the drawer next to Jack in no time, “We have to face up to it. He's not coming back.”

“I believe in him” Ianto croaked out his first words in days

Tosh wanted to cry it was so heartbreaking, “You’ve got to let him go, Ianto” She left and Ianto just stared harder at his lover as if he could bring him back by pure willpower alone. 

Taking in a shrugging breath, Ianto grasped one of Jacks hands and brought it to his lips and kissed it, “I will never let you go” he whispered, he had lost everything, his friends, his family, hell even his own time period but he refused to lose Jack as well. He didn’t want to live without him. He used to believe there were only two types of love, the kind you die for and the kind you kill for but Jack had shown him he was wrong, because Jack? Jack was the kind he lived for.

“Thank you” Jack breathed and Ianto was torn between crying and screaming at the man, nothing new there then.

-

Call him selfish but Ianto didn’t want to share Jack with the team yet, he wanted to keep him all to himself. Sure he was still angry with the way his lover had treated him, for locking him inside the SUV and for sacrificing himself but all that could wait, for now he just wanted to hold him close and reassure himself Jack had actually come back to him.

Ianto should know by now he doesn’t usually get what he wants, “We need to let them know I’m alive” Jack persuaded him as he got dressed in his own clothes, medical scrubs weren’t really his style, “Once I’ve spoken to them we can go home, just the two of us”

“Alright” Ianto resisted the urge to pout as Jack took his hand, “But I reserve the right to shoot someone if they try and stop us”

Jack huffed out a surprised laugh and nodded, “Sure thing” tugging Ianto by the hand he led them back up to the main hub.

Tosh was the first one to spot him, she raced over for a hug and was soon joined by Gwen. Ianto stood back and watched as Jack comforted them even though he was the one who had died, getting defensive when he saw Owen walking over, he didn’t exactly trust the guy who had held a gun to his lovers head and shot him in the shoulder, sue him. Jack didn’t seem to mind though as he let the girls go and pulled Owen into a hug of his own.

“I-”

“I forgive you” Jack whispered into his ear, “But if you ever harm Ianto again I will make you wish you had never been born”

Ianto’s threat of shooting anyone who tried to stop them leaving turned out to be an empty one as Tosh requested a debriefing and managed to come away without any bullet holes. They didn’t bother climbing through the rubble to get to the board room, instead settling to just use Jack’s office which was mostly undamaged, “What's happened to the Rift?” Owen asked

“It closed up when Abaddon was destroyed. But it's gonna be more volatile than ever” Jack rolled his shoulders trying to get rid of the stiffness in his muscles, maybe he could persuade Ianto to give him a rubdown once they got home after he finished grovelling that is

“The visions we had,” Tosh paused, “What did you see?”

“Nothing” Jack scratched his neck, “There was nothing. We can go over everything else later, the coffee machine is busted. Can you go fetch some while I help Ianto change his bandages” the excuse was a lame one but the team filtered out of his office one by one until it was just him and Ianto anyway, “Did you see Lisa?” He asked softly

“I did”

“And yet you didn’t try and open the rift,” Jack looked at him curiously, “What made you so sure she wasn’t real?”

“I wasn’t sure” Ianto admitted, “I just knew the consequences of opening the rift and… I didn’t want to betray you”

“Thank you” Jack forced a smile, “How’s the shoulder?”

“It’s fine” Ianto half smiled back as he got to use the old line again, “It’s going to scar but-”

“Battle wounds are suppose to be attractive” Jack finished for him, “Come on, let’s go home. I’m sure the team will understand”

“Jack…” Ianto stopped him at the doorway, “What would have tempted you? What visions would have convinced you to open the Rift?”

Jack considered his next words, “Last year I would have said you”

“But I’m here now” Ianto licked his lips, “So… your Doctor?”

“You see right through me” Jack sighed, “I don’t want to let you go either”

They walked hand in hand through the hub until they reached the cog door and something caught Ianto’s attention out of he corner of his eye, “Jack” he pulled him to a stop and pointed at his hand in a jar that had started to glow

Wind blew through the hub and what sounded like gears groaning together filtered through the air, haunting music to Jack’s ears, “It’s him” he looked between the hand and Ianto frantically, his stomach dropping as Ianto pulled his hand away, “Ianto-”

“You’d better hurry” Ianto fought the urge to cling to Jack like a child, he had been waiting over a century for the Doctor, he would never forgive himself if he was the reason he missed him, “You don’t want to miss your chance”

“I…” he dithered on the spot before yanking Ianto forward and planting a passionate kiss to his lips, “I will come back for you, I swear”

“I know” Ianto pushed him away towards the hand, “Go get your answers Jack” he watched his lover run away with a heavy heart, the timing could have been better but he knew Jack would come back for him. 

It seemed only fair, it was his turn to wait now and wait he would.

 

To be continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right... so here we are again at the end of a story. I hope you all liked it! I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments :) Part Three will be a little while yet so I hope you can be patient with me. In the meantime I might be posting something new so look out for that. Thats all from me, thank you so much to everyone who left me comments and kudos, it means a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> So... what do ya think? Yes? No? Think I should throw a flaming brick at my computer screen and destroy this monstrosity? Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts, I’d love to hear them!


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